


The Greatest Gunslinger In History Also Accidentally Created Zombies

by tumblruserpailylove



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: Blood, Earp curse, Explosions, F/F, Fighting, Genetic Engineering, Protective Wynonna Earp, Zombie Apocalypse, bed sharing, but also cold and emotionless, earp sisters being badasses, hybrid zombie, nicole is a ninja, nicole is a super soldier, she is just kinda a badass, they're fighting zombies what else can I say?, they're stuck in purgatory, waverly and nicole are inevitable, wynonna is stubborn, zombie killing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-09
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:21:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 91,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22639954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tumblruserpailylove/pseuds/tumblruserpailylove
Summary: The year is 2050-something and until about 30 years ago no one really thought zombies were real. Sure there were rumors that Wyatt Earp accidentally created zombies by making a deal in order to save his dying best friend but that was just folklore. Right?However many decades later, zombies are apparently real and have ravaged the world. Wynonna and Waverly are the only known survivors in their own little corner of the world. They've had their backs against the wall their entire lives and the longer they fight the more exhausted they get. What they really need is some help.-It's a zombie apocalypse story, what else can I say?-~.~.~.~.~.~
Relationships: Waverly Earp & Nicole Haught, Waverly Earp & Wynonna Earp, Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught, Waverly Earp/Wynonna Earp, WayHaught, earp sisters - Relationship
Comments: 149
Kudos: 270





	1. At least there's still coffee

“Now, babygirl!” Wynonna shouted as she lifted the long barrel of Peacemaker in the direction of her sister.

Waverly’s foot slammed down on the toes of the man who had his arm wrapped tightly around her from behind. This caused him to howl in pain and release his grip just enough for her to drop down to her knees and out of harm’s way.

A single shot was fired. The growl of agony from the man mixed with the echo of the gunshot and rose into the otherwise silent night air. Then the man’s body fell lifelessly to the ground with a sickening squish before quiet once more blanketed the dark streets.

“You okay?” Wynonna rushed over to crouch next to her little sister who was still on the ground.

“Ship shape” Waverly breathed out as her eyes lifted to meet the worried gaze of her sister. She rocked back from her knees to sit on her feet as a heavy sigh left her lips. “I think if you are going to continue to use me for bait you should at least give me a knife.”

Wynonna smirked slightly as she reached out to pull a few pink chunks of gooey brain out of her sister’s hair “You know a knife is no good against them.”

“I could at least slow them down a bit” Waverly huffed as her hand reached to her own shoulder and slowly wiped off a pile of slimy drool that had been left behind by their last victim. She pulled her hand away and made a disgusted face as she looked at the stringy goop that clung to her hand even after she had attempted to shake it off. “They’re getting stronger.”

“I know” Wynonna let out a sigh as she flicked the last chunk of brain from Waverly’s hair before getting to her feet. She offered a hand to her sister for assistance before shrugging slightly. “Ever since Bobo figured out the newborns get stronger if you incubate them I feel like we’ve been playing catch up.”

“I still don’t understand why you won’t let me just plant a bomb to blow up his entire operation” Waverly grumbled as she dusted dirt from her knees now that she was standing. She glanced in the general direction of where Bobo’s factory stood at the edge of town and shook her head. “It would be so easy to end it all with one huge ka-boom.”

“We’ve been over this” Wynonna mumbled and walked over to the lifeless body they had just dispatched now that her sister was back on her feet. She reached for the knife near her ankle as she leaned down over the corpse. With one quick motion she stabbed the blade into the skull and cut it open. The top of the skull rolled away and a glob of black, tar like goo bubbled out slowly onto the ground. “Shit” She mumbled then looked up to her sister “Another totally brainless one.”

Waverly shook her head in disappointment and joined her sister at the side of the dead zombie. She stared down at him with concern and after a moment another sigh left her lips “Bobo’s getting smarter.”

“And we are running out of bait” Wynonna huffed with a nod as she stood up fully after stuffing her knife back into her ankle sheath. She looked up at her sister and motioned with her head for her to follow before she turned and headed toward her truck.

The zombie uprising started before Wynonna was born. It was slow at first. There were rumors of people in the world who never seemed to age and had a taste for brains but most rational human beings laughed it off because it seemed like something out of a movie. There was no such things as magic, curses, immortals, or monsters. People liked to speculate about supernatural happenings but no one ever really believed they could become a reality.

Zombies and other such creatures were not a new thing. For centuries people told tales of unexplainable things and unsavory behaviors. Most people just viewed them as stories. Works of fiction passed down through the generations as a form of entertainment. No one actually believed a creature needed brains to survive and could turn you into one of them with a single bite.

Science couldn’t even find any validity behind the claims. There was no possible way that a human body could essentially be dead but still functioning. All scientific logic pointed to the fact that a body would start to decompose if the heart stopped beating and the brain stopped producing all the basic things needed to sustain life. It was a matter of simple fact.

Unfortunately there are things in the world that just don’t make sense. They defy logic, physics, and science. Some people throughout history have claimed such things as being magic or miracles. Yet others just accept that there is an entire universe of unknown things. So why are we so quick to think we can explain everything away with science?

The Earps were no strangers to unexplainable folklore. In fact it is rumored that zombie lineage can be traced back to Wyatt Earp himself. As the story goes, Wyatt, grief stricken by his dying best friend, paid a visit to a woman rumored to have magical healing powers. He made a deal to save the man’s life. As per usual when dealing with magic there was always a consequence. One can not simply receive a magical gift without some sort of sacrifice.

Unbeknownst to Wyatt the mystic had granted his best friend, Doc Holliday, immortality. No disease could kill him. No mortal weapons would end his life. In fact, the only way the man could be put down is by a bullet from Wyatt Earp’s own gun.

Wyatt would never shoot his best friend so this was not an issue for him. Therefore, the two of them celebrated Doc’s new lease on life and continued living the way they had before. Best friends, side by side, hunting down criminals and bringing justice to the world.

It was all well and good until the day Wyatt discovered his best friend hunched over the dead body of one of the crooks they had just executed. He stared in horror as he watched Doc take bite after bite of the freshly dead brain he had dug out of the skull with his bare hands.

Horrified, Wyatt drew his gun on his best friend. Peacemaker’s barrel lit up a bright red-orange color, much to Wyatt’s surprise. He stared dumbfounded at his gun. Doc took it upon himself to use the distraction as a chance to flee. He turned and ran into the woods. Wyatt realized what had happened and quickly gave chase. He couldn’t be sure what he had seen. All he knew was when he caught his best friend he was going to make sure he never hurt another soul again.

The rumors about what happened after that are a little shaky. Some people claimed to have seen Wyatt shoot Doc right between the eyes. Others claim Doc got away. Since that day there have been rumored sightings of the man throughout all of Northern America. Again, none of them substantiated. So, as most stories often are, this tale was written off as a creative myth to scare kids into behaving lest the brain-eating man would come feast upon them.

No one in the Earp family really believed in the myth. The story was absolutely absurd. Magic wasn’t real. Brain-eating humans didn’t exist. Not to mention the very public record of Wyatt Earp officiating over Doc Holliday’s funeral. The family scrapbook had yellowing newspaper clippings featuring the story of their ancestor mourning the loss of his dearly departed best friend.

Stories of brain-eating humans circulated throughout history from that day forward. Sometimes the brain-eaters were mindless creatures who wandered aimlessly until they got a whiff of fresh brains. Sometimes the cursed creatures could have families, feel love, and build communities where they were safe. Whatever the story was it never seemed to carry much weight. There was no proof and thus no reason to believe it could actually be true.

Then nearly thirty years ago stories started spreading like wildfire about zombies being real. It was in the midst of the zombie phenomenon in media. Movies, books, television programs, and graphic novels containing such stories could be found everywhere. The idea of zombies was one that fascinated the world. It was almost as if the human race was desensitized by the idea of these creatures. So when someone said they were real people laughed it away. Fantasy couldn’t possibly become reality, right?

Most of the confirmed zombie cases originated from the same place. Government agencies quarantined that area and the problem was resolved. New precautions were set in place and soon there were protocols to help eliminate new infections. It seemed to work for a while. Until another outbreak was discovered, but this one was too much to handle. That’s when the real chaos began.

Ward didn’t believe it himself until the day he was forced to kill a zombie near his own land. Wynonna had just turned twenty. She had spent all of her life in Purgatory because it had remained untouched. None of the Earps had ever seen a zombie in person. All they knew was what they had seen on the news. Then one day, right after dinner, Ward was chopping wood outside, for the fire, when he saw a man standing on the road just beyond their property line.

There was something off about him. He had a blank look in his eyes. Ward had called for everyone to go inside and lock the doors while he approached the stranger carefully. He simply wanted to ask the man what it was he was looking for and why he had come to their home.

Somehow Wynonna had the instinct to go find Peacemaker. It sat in a display case on the highest shelf of the bookcase that served as a shrine to their family history. She quickly slid a chair over to the shelving unit and climbed up. She wasn’t quite tall enough to take hold of it but she managed to push it off its perch and send the glass case to the ground where it shattered.

Panic ensued after that. Michelle tried to scold Wynonna for breaking the glass. Willa was screaming that daddy was in trouble. Waverly had run into her parents’ room and grabbed a shotgun from the safe. Ward was wrestling with the man who was drooling between attempts to bite into him. Wynonna carefully grabbed the gun from under the shards of glass and ran out of the house as fast as she could.

That was the day she saw her father kill a zombie for the first time. That was the day everything changed. This wasn’t just a problem the rest of the world was facing. No. Now the Earps had to prepare to fight for survival. That was the day it became clear that the Earps might be the only saving grace that humanity had.

Wynonna shook off the fading memory and let out a huff as she spread the large map of the Ghost River Triangle out over the kitchen table at the Homestead. She put her whiskey bottle down on one corner and Peacemaker down on the opposite corner to keep the paper from rolling back up on itself. She grabbed a marker and uncapped it with her teeth before starting to make marks on the map.

“We have one brain left” Waverly closed the freezer and turned back to look at her sister with a frown. “We need more before we go out hunting again.”

“So we get a coyote” Wynonna grumbled without taking her eyes off the map.

“The older ones can tell the difference” Waverly sighed with a shrug as she approached the table. She eyed the marks that her sister had made and a concerned frown washed over her features. “They aren’t venturing away from the factory as far as they used to. What do you think that means?”

“I think it means they don’t have to hunt for brains like they used to” Wynonna capped the marker and tossed it onto the map. Her eyes flickered over the landscape of their town and the surrounding areas. She shrugged and reached for her whiskey. When she lifted the bottle the map rolled up into itself.

“There aren’t any humans left in the Ghost River Triangle” Waverly whispered as her hand moved to push the map open again. She eyed it for a moment then glanced up at her sister “Why are they staying in the area if their food supply is gone?”

Wynonna just shrugged. She didn’t have the answer. She knew Bobo Del Rey was in charge of the factory. She knew he was turning people into zombies and using them to grow his horde. She also knew his zombie making operation was benefiting him in some way. What she didn’t know was what his intentions were. She also had no idea who was funding the factory and why. 

That was the bigger issue. Until they could get that answer they had to continue to isolate and kill zombies one by one in an attempt to weaken Bobo’s defenses. But that was a losing battle these days. He had an entire community of zombies and picking them off one by one would probably take the rest of their lives. They needed help but they hadn’t run into another human in over a year.

“You should rest” Wynonna glanced at the clock on the wall then to her sister with a nod. “I’ll take the first watch.”

“I’m fine” Wavery shook off her sister’s suggestion. As she did so a huge yawn betrayed her as it pushed its way out of her mouth. She rolled her eyes at that and let out a sigh of surrender “Fine, I’ll take a quick nap. Wake me up if anything happens.”

Wynonna gave her sister a salute then turned her back on the girl in order to move through the house. They had set up a watch point in the top of the barn. She grabbed a blanket, a bag of chips to snack on, the whiskey she still held, and headed outside into the cold. It was her nightly routine by now. 

She hardly slept anymore. Even when Waverly took watch Wynonna found herself unable to rest. She couldn’t recall the last time she had gotten a full night’s sleep. She couldn’t shut off her brain. She had to keep Waverly safe. She had to figure out how to take down Bobo’s operation. She wondered why the Hell the zombies didn’t just swarm their land. They would easily be outnumbered by the horde. But for some reason the zombies left them alone as long as they were on Earp land.

She wasn’t sure how any of this worked. The only thing she was absolutely positive about was the fact that her family possessed a certain power when it came to zombies. The gun of their great great grandpa could kill the undead with one shot and the zombies couldn’t come onto their land. It had to all be tied together, right? It had to be part of whatever deal Wyatt had made in order to save Doc’s life. 

Their father hadn’t really understood it, either. He also refused to fight the zombies. He thought they could flee Purgatory, find another secluded town, and his family would be safe. He had decided shortly after the first zombie that he would pack up his family and leave town. For three months, he made supply runs into town to stock up. He wanted enough food and water to last for a couple of months. That should have been long enough to find a new place to settle down, right?

Except they couldn’t leave the Ghost River Triangle. At least not with Peacemaker in hand. The gun was seemingly bound to the area. They had attempted to cross the county lines only to be stopped by an unknown force. They made a few attempts to throw the gun across the town line only to have it bounce back at them as if hitting an invisible wall. Peacemaker, the only gun that could kill zombies, had to stay put.

So they stayed. Ward taught his girls how to shoot. They also lured zombies close to their property and experimented with different ways to kill them. Fire worked but it had to be all consuming and long burning. A cocktail of tar and diesel fuel seemed to be the most successful combination to get the job done.

Other weapons penetrated the zombies but didn’t really hurt them. A gunshot from a regular gun or a stab wound would only slow them down. One had even taken a knife straight to the brain and not died. The only effective way of dispatching a zombie without fire or Peacemaker was to slice the top of their head off. If the brain was still in tact so was the zombie even if it was just a body-less head on the ground.

After a few years of defending the Homestead it seemed the zombies stopped making the long trip to the edge of town. This meant that Ward had to leave the safety of the property to go out and hunt them down or search for supplies. Most of the town was desolate by then which meant a lot of food for the taking. It also meant that the zombies were starting to starve to death so any whiff of a brain sent them into a frenzy.

The zombies weren’t like those portrayed in most media forms. They looked and acted like human beings. They led normal lives, had houses or cars, and some even had jobs. It was hard to distinguish a zombie from a human. As long as they were fed regularly the zombies weren’t violent. It was only when hunger started to creep in that they would turn ravenous and go on killing sprees. 

The Earps rotated supply runs. It was usually Ward with one or two other members of the family with him. He had the gun and would serve as lookout while the others got supplies from the abandoned homes and stores in town. Then they would jump in the truck and race back to the Homestead. They had been doing it for years and it seemed like they had a flawless system.

Then one day Ward, Willa, and Michelle ran into another human. This was surprising because they hadn’t seen another person in Purgatory in nearly five years. The man was desperate for help. He had been running from zombies for weeks. His hometown had been overrun and he had barely escaped. He stayed in the trees and traveled only at night, going from town to town, eating any food he could find in order to survive. He pleaded with Ward to help him. Ward was skeptical at first but Michelle pointed out that the man had not once started to drool and he had color in his eyes. Those were two surefire signs that he was not a zombie. So Ward agreed and he let the man come with them back to the Homestead.

He followed in the car he had managed to hot wire a few towns back. With the supplies he had in his trunk and what they had found in town that day they knew they would not have to make another run for a while. That was good news because the supplies were dwindling and the Earps were being forced to venture further and further away from the Homestead. They needed time to make fire bombs if they were going to dare be away from home for any significant amount of time.

Wynonna and Waverly were in the middle of unloading the truck when it happened. There was a scream, two gunshots, then silence. The girls ran toward the commotion only to see the stranger hunched over their father, digging the brains from his skull and stuffing them greedily into his mouth. He had parked his car just outside the property line and lured the others over so he could attack them.

He had been a newborn zombie. They were the most passable as humans. They were also the most unpredictable because they hadn’t learned how to control their hunger yet. The only plus side to them was that they were the weakest and easiest to kill.

Waverly grabbed a piece of wood that looked like it had once been a tree branch. She quickly lit it on fire using some of the diesel fuel they had been stocking up on then rushed at the zombie eating her father’s brains.

With the newborn distracted Wynonna had quickly grabbed Peacemaker from where it lay still holstered at her father’s hip. With trembling hands, she lifted the gun and watched the barrel light up that same red-orange color it always did before she pulled the trigger and sent a bullet right into the zombie’s brain.

Willa and their mother had been shot by the newborn zombie. He had intended to take their brains and use them to sustain his hunger until he could find someone else to feed off. Instead Wynonna and Waverly now had to bury them. That was the last day they had ever trusted a stranger.

~.~.~.~.~.~.

“Good morning! You hungry?” Waverly glanced up from the stove where she was cooking breakfast to see her sister plop down at the kitchen table.

“Not if it’s that disgusting kale shit you keep trying to feed me” Wynonna grumbled as a yawn ripped through her lips. She had managed maybe an hour of sleep that night. That was pretty good for her.

“It’s the only thing I can get to consistently grow out here” Waverly said with a frown as she looked into the pan at the kale she was cooking. The Earps had a greenhouse on their land and their mother had taught Waverly how to garden. At first it was flourishing with vegetables and fruits but as the years drew on the crops started to die out. Between lack of fresh soil and new seeds it was harder and harder for them to produce food. Their apple tree and kale, for whatever reason, thrived in their greenhouse. At least it was food. It helped sustain them in the long breaks between supply runs.

“At least there’s still coffee” Wynonna mumbled as she poured herself a cup out of the carafe that was sitting on the table. They had to boil the water and steep it through the grounds themselves but at least they had coffee. They had found a 50 pound bag of beans in one of the old coffee shops on one of their supply runs and it had lasted them quite a long time.

“I got some eggs this morning” Waverly added in with a gleeful nod. “Silvia finally laid some.”

“You really shouldn’t name the chickens, Waves. You know I’m going to kill them and eat them one day” Wynonna rolled her eyes and took a sip from her cup.

“You can’t” Waverly shook her head as she stirred the eggs and kale together in the pan. “We’ve been over this. We need them to mate and produce more chickens before we can eat them.”

Wynonna just shook her head and took another drink of coffee. They had been on their own for nearly two years now. They had seen a total of one other human since the rest of their family had been killed. They knew it was a human because they had willingly stepped onto the Earp land and knocked on their door. When Wynonna had answered the door she had done so with Peacemaker lifted and aimed right at the stranger’s head. The barrel had immediately turned blue which was the only real way to tell if someone was alive or dead.

The man had been in search of food and shelter. Neither of the girls had been too keen to trust a stranger again but Waverly didn’t have the heart to send him away empty-handed. She had made him a sandwich and told him which direction to head in order to find the next town. She gave him a map and sent him on his way. That was the last time they had seen someone who still had a pulse.

“I am going to go check the traps while you finish breakfast. Hopefully we caught something with a brain today” Wynonna got up from the table now. She grabbed Peacemaker and holstered it quickly before moving out into the barn. She gathered a few supplies to be able to gut any potential kill then headed into the woods that surrounded their property. It was always a risk to leave their land but most zombies left them alone out there so she wasn’t too worried about running into any trouble.

She wasn’t gone long but by the time she returned the breakfast that Waverly had made was cold. That didn’t stop her from eating it. Even if it tasted like dirt she knew she needed the calories to sustain herself so she could keep fighting. She wasn’t sure what she was fighting for any longer. All she knew was that giving up just didn’t sit well with her. So she would fight with her sister, for her sister, until the day all zombies were dead or until they were caught in a swarm and overtaken. She much preferred the former choice, though.

Once she was done with breakfast she went out to the front porch to find Waverly sitting on the railing with a shotgun in hand. She gave her sister a sideways smile then motioned to the house behind her to indicate the kitchen she had just left “Got some rabbit brains.”

Waverly just gave a shake of her head as her eyes remained on the horizon that she scanned for any movement. She was quiet for a few moments before finally letting out a sigh “I want to firebomb them.”

“We have no way of pulling that off” Wynonna sighed as she moved now to sit on the porch swing across from where her sister was perched. “We can’t get close enough to the factory without being detected by his scouts. I’m actually surprised we are still able to isolate one every now and then. He’s figured us out, Waves. He knows how we operate.”

“You remember the blacksmith?” Waverly finally looked at her sister and arched her eyebrows slightly. When Wynonna gave her a confused nod, she smiled very gently “She had a plane on her land. It was old and needed fixing but it was there. What if we could find the parts it needs and fix it up? Then I can fly right over the factory and drop enough tar to burn a small city!”

“Where are we going to find parts?” Wynonna huffed out with a laugh. She wasn’t amused though. It was more like she was laughing at how unbelievable the plan sounded. “Or fuel? How are you going to fly it?” She shook her head and settled back against the porch swing “Plus the amount of tar we would need to burn down the factory wouldn’t fit on that tiny ass plane.”

“Well we have to do something, Wynonna” Waverly growled defensively. She did not really appreciate being laughed at. “We are losing this fight. For every one zombie we manage to kill Bobo is creating ten! He’s sending them out into the world, Wynonna. At this rate we will be the only two people left on Earth. What’s the point in that?”

“You’re right, Waverly” Wynonna shot up from where she had been sitting. She shouted the words and threw her hands out to the side in frustration “What in the fuck loving fiery Hell is the point of any of this? Even if we outlive everyone else we’ll eventually die, right here, on this land having never experienced anything but shooting the undead in the face!”

Waverly blinked in surprise at her sister’s outburst. She knew this entire thing was frustrating. They had argued about whether or not it was worth it once before. It was right after their family had died and neither of them had any hope that they would get out of this alive. They had discussed leaving the Ghost River Triangle together and risking their lives to find one of the safe havens that were rumored to be out there. But that would have meant leaving Peacemaker behind and with zombies able to pass as humans there would be no way to tell if the safe havens were really safe. Not without the gun and its ability to detect zombies.

They decided to stay and fight. It had been a hard life but it was the only one they had ever known. They were safe on their land and they were safe with the gun. So they kept fighting. They kept gathering supplies and trying to make a life for themselves while at the same time taking out as many of the undead as they could. But now it was getting harder and harder to find a reason to keep going.

“I know” Waverly finally relented with a sigh. She set the shotgun down and stood from where she had been perched. She wrapped her arms around her sister and pulled her into a tight hug whether she liked it or not. “I’m tired, too. That’s why I can’t stop thinking about how we can end it all.”

“I’m not sure that we can” Wynonna mumbled through a sigh as her arms wrapped around her sister to return the embrace. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed but we’re sorely outnumbered with barely enough firepower to keep ourselves alive.”

Waverly exhaled heavily as she pulled from the hug. Her head gave a little nod in agreement. They really had their backs against the wall in the big scheme of things. But what could they do about it? Give up and die or keep fighting and hope there are others out there doing the same? Though it was exhausting she knew the answer to that question was never to give up and die.

“You wanna go on a hunt?” She finally said with a little sideways smile as she reached behind herself to gather the shotgun she had set down. “That always puts a little pep in your step.”

Wynonna huffed out a laugh in an attempt to act disinterested in what her sister had just said. It failed quickly and soon she was smirking very slightly “Yeah, fine, let’s go blow a head off some shoulders.”

“Can we hunt near the shoe store?” Waverly perked an eyebrow slightly as she moved with Wynonna toward the barn to gather some of their hunting supplies.

“Last time we tried that part of town we struck out” Wynonna shook her head as she slung a bag of tools over her shoulder.

“But I really need some new boots” Waverly frowned and looked at her feet now. She wiggled a few of her toes to show her sister that they were nearly ripping through the material there. 

“Fine” Wynonna waved it off and let out a soft laugh. “We can swing by there first but I don’t want you to take too long. I’m still convinced they’re going to start setting traps for us any day now.”

“Deal” Waverly nodded quickly as she gathered up the last of the things they needed. With no more discussion between them they loaded up their truck then headed for town. Luckily most of the stores on their end of town had been untouched by zombies for years now which meant they were relatively safe. Usually.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

As expected the girls didn’t find much of anything on their first sweep through the first few stores in town. It seemed like most of the zombie population stayed close to the factory which was all the way on the opposite side of Purgatory. The only reason they knew there were still some zombies wandering further away was because of the successful hunts they had. Those were few and far between nowadays, though. It either meant the zombies were leaving or they weren’t out searching for food. Judging by the smoke constantly billowing up from the towers at the factory they had a feeling the zombies were staying put. That begged the question of where they were getting the brains they needed to sustain their zombie state.

The girls were in the middle of town now near Shorty’s, the police station, and the church with the tall bell tower. They had set up a telescope at the top of the tower a few years prior and they used that spot to spy on the factory. Every time they climbed all the stairs that led to the top and looked through the lense they saw more and more zombies hanging out in that general area. That is how they knew Bobo was producing zombies at a quickened rate. It also served to make them wonder how he was feeding them all.

They planned to do a stakeout of the factory in the near future to try and get some answers. The only issue with that was their lack of real surveillance equipment. They had raided the police station years ago but even that equipment was outdated and barely worked at long range. With the growing number of zombies in town it was harder and harder to get close enough for the old equipment to be of any use. They needed some top tier government issued spy gear. Being as the government had long since abandoned Purgatory their chances of finding any of that equipment was essentially nonexistent.

They were in the middle of an argument about how close was too close to get to the factory when they had heard some movement in the bushes just beyond the road. They quickly hid themselves and prepared to put the zombie down as soon as it brought itself into view.

After ten minutes of waiting without another hint of movement they decided to set a trap. With the fresh rabbit brain and blood as bait they got to work quickly. Within just a few moments Waverly had the brain matter smashed into her hair and the blood poured on her shoulder and down her back. The scent of both those things combined usually served to entice any zombies nearby. By applying them to Waverly she could pretend to be injured to draw in the undead, making them easy pickin’s for Wynonna and Peacemaker.

Waverly sat on the street looking horrifically injured and completely helpless. She waited for a few minutes to see if there was anyone to take the bait. When it seemed like whoever had been rustling around in the bush was still a little shy she turned on the water works. Within mere seconds she was crying and whining out loudly “Help! Somebody help me!”

Wynonna was crouched down behind a nearby car waiting. As soon as she saw a zombie trying to get a taste of her sister she would pounce. Her heart was racing so fast she could hear the echo of it in her own head. It didn’t seem to matter that she had killed hundreds of zombies in her life she still got a rush when they hunted. That was one of the reasons she knew this was what she was meant to do. It was why she couldn’t give up and walk away forever.

“Please! I’ve been in an accident” Waverly called out through a pathetic sob. “Anyone out there? I need help! Someone, please, before the zombies get me!”

Suddenly there was movement. A figure appeared from the shadows on the side of the street opposite of where they had heard the initial rustling. It stood just beyond the shadow of the building and stared at Waverly as if trying to decide whether or not to approach.

Waverly bit her lip. She knew the damn rabbit brain wasn’t strong enough to lure out a zombie. They needed large amounts of animal brain to apparently make the scent mimic that of a human brain. At least that’s what they had assumed. Neither of them could smell the difference. It all smelled like dead flesh to them.

“Help, please!” She pretended not to see the figure in the shadows. Instead she reached up and ran a hand through the blood that had been poured along her shoulder and down her back. She pretended to wince in pain “I’m bleeding very badly. Is there anyone out there?”

The figure took a few steps and was now completely visible. This is when it became apparent that they were wearing a hood. This meant Wynonna could not get a clean shot at the head because she did not know where to aim. The hood was big and made it very hard to pinpoint exactly where the part of the skull that held the brain was at. If she shot and missed it would only serve to give away her location and potentially put Waverly in more danger. Unfortunately she had to wait and hope the creature would pull their hood off as they drew closer.

Seeing the hooded figure now Waverly looked right at it. She drew in a deep breath as her heart started to race. She hoped if it attacked she would be able to hold it off until Wynonna could get a good shot off. She licked her lips and tried to push away her nervousness as she nodded at the now slowly approaching figure “Oh my god, please, can you help me? I fell on some broken stairs and I think something stabbed me in the lungs. It’s hard to breathe. Can you please…”

The figure looked back and forth, assessing the scene for danger, before taking a few more steps. As they drew closer they saw the fresh red blood soaked through Waverly’s shirt and quickly rushed over to her side now. The figure knelt beside the girl and quickly reached out toward where the majority of the blood was on her shirt “Is there something stuck? Hold still, let me look.” The voice was soft, light and feminine, as it lifted into the air.

Waverly had not expected the zombie to be so kind. Usually the ones that were this far from the factory were so malnourished that they went berserk as soon as they smelled the blood. They lost any last remaining part of them that was human and lunged in hunger at their victim. But that had not happened. That meant this was either a newborn zombie or a human.

“I don’t see…” The stranger pushed their hood off their head now in order to get a better look.

Waverly’s breath caught in her throat. It was a human. It was a woman, a beautiful woman, with bright red hair and stunning brown eyes. She was speaking calmly, with concern for Waverly, but Waverly didn’t hear what she said because she had been so surprised by the beauty of the hooded stranger.

The stranger blinked and her eyes focused on Waverly’s gaze. It looked almost like the girl was staring in awe at her. This made the corners of her mouth flicker into a slight smile, just enough to reveal her dimples, before she let out a soft breath “Are you okay?”

Just then there was the unmistakable feeling of a gun being pressed into the back of her head. She immediately threw her hands up in surrender and she stared wide eyed down at Waverly before she spoke “I’m not here to hurt you.”

“You have three seconds to make your peace. One, two…” As Wynonna pulled the hammer back on Peacemaker the barrel did not turn the red-orange color to indicate that the being at the other end of the barrel was a zombie. It also did not light up blue which meant it was pointed at a human. Instead it did something Wynonna had never seen before. The gun burned a bright white light from the designs etched on the barrel.

Wynonna’s jaw dropped open slightly as she stared at the gun. Her shock lasted only a few seconds before she shook it off and pressed the barrel against the back of the strangers head a little more firmly “Who the Hell are you?”

“My name is Nicole Haught and I am here to help you.”

~.~.~.~.~.~.


	2. I guess your history lessons didn't include that part

Nicole’s head jerked forward when Wynonna shoved the end of Peacemaker’s barrel against it once more as she growled “I am going to ask you one more time. Who the Hell are you?”

“Nicole Haught!” Nicole shouted a little louder thinking that maybe the woman behind her had not heard her the first time. “I’m here to-”

“Yeah, yeah, I heard you loud and clear” Wynonna bit out with a roll of her eyes. “Unfortunately for you I could give two farts about that. So this time when you tell me who you are you better be much more descriptive or your brains are going to be all over the ground.”

“Wynonna, stop” Waverly had gotten up off the ground and stepped around Nicole. She pushed the barrel of the gun away from the woman’s head and gave her a frown. “Give her a chance to explain herself.”

“I’m going to reach for my identification” Nicole, still holding both hands in the air, pointed downward with her right hand. She then used that same hand to slowly, so that everyone could track her movements, reach into her large trenchcoat.

“Don’t try anything funny” Wynonna nudged Waverly to the side and once more pushed Peacemaker against Nicole, this time at the base of her neck, and cocked the hammer.

“Fine” Nicole’s hand shot back up into the air. She glanced over her shoulder and when she saw Waverly standing near her she motioned to her with a sideways nod “How about she gets it?”

Wynonna perked an eyebrow and glanced at her sister. When Waverly gave a single nod that said she was comfortable doing so Wynonna let out a sigh to show she would accept that. “But if you try to touch her, grab her, or do anything else stupid I will blow your head off.”

“Got it” Nicole grumbled with a roll of her eyes. She then looked over at Waverly and her face lightened into a slight smile. “There’s a breast pocket here on my left side. My badge is in there.” She shifted, turning her torso toward Waverly who was standing at her right, and gave a nod “Go ahead.”

“Badge?” Wynonna perked an eyebrow curiously as she watched her sister slowly reach across Nicole.

“I am a member of an elite task force sent out to contain and destroy zombie colonies. I was assigned-” Nicole laughed suddenly and flinched herself away from Waverly. This caused Waverly to squeak in surprise and jump back. This also caused Wynonna to stuff Peacemaker so firmly against Nicole’s neck that there was sure to be a bruise there. Nicole drew in a deep breath and blushed very slightly before looking between the two girls with a frown “Sorry. I’m just really ticklish.”

“You scared me” Waverly breathed out a laugh then stepped back toward Nicole. She motioned to where she had almost had hold of her badge and raised an eyebrow “May I?”

“Sorry” Nicole bit her lip shyly and dropped her eyes to the ground. She didn’t know this girl very well but she had kind eyes and looking into them kind of gave her a strange feeling in her stomach.

“Waverly, stop farting around!” Wynonna growled and motioned with her head for her to move a little more quickly.

“Waverly?” Nicole’s eyes lifted to the girl leaning across her as a smile took over her lips. “That’s a beautiful name. It’s nice to meet you.”

Waverly blushed now. The compliment from the stranger mixed with how close she was leaning to her face, and the fact that her hand was mere inches from her breast while she fished around in her pocket, caused a sudden and unexpected heat to rise in her cheeks. She bit her lip and turned her eyes to look at Nicole. Her head nodded very slightly and she returned the smile “It’s nice to meet you, too.”

Suddenly Wynonna swung the butt end of Peacemaker down against the back of Nicole’s head with enough force to knock her out. She watched Nicole fall forward onto her face then looked at her sister with a shrug “Did you get the badge?”

“What did you do that for?” Waverly gasped out in horror at her sister’s actions as she knelt next to Nicole’s limp body. “She was being nice and cooperating with us!”

Wynonna just rolled her eyes and reached her hand out for the badge “You can’t be so trusting, babygirl. We don’t even know if she is telling the truth.”

“Well I believe her” Waverly grumbled as she tossed the badge she had fished out of Nicole’s pocket up to her sister. She then leaned down within inches of Nicole’s face to see if she was still breathing. Satisfied once she felt a few breaths on her cheek she straightened up onto her knees and looked up at Wynonna “What if she’s really from some government agency? We could use their help.”

Wynonna eyed Nicole’s badge carefully and spoke without looking up from it “If there’s some amazing agency out there saving the world from zombies, why did it take them so long to get here?”

“Maybe there are bigger colonies?” Waverly shrugged. “Maybe it took a few years to form?” 

“Yeah, well, I’ve never heard of X-”

Suddenly Nicole sat upright and drew in a deep, gasping breath.

Both sister’s screamed. 

Wynonna lifted Peacemaker and took aim at Nicole’s right temple.

Nicole blinked a few times then reached to touch at the spot on the back of her head that had been hit by the gun. She scowled and turned to look at Wynonna with a growl rolling from her lips “What the Hell was the for?”

“Wynonna, put the gun down!” Waverly moved now to put herself between her sister and Nicole. She had one hand on Nicole’s shoulder as she held the other out in front of her in a motion to try and get Wynonna to calm down.

“Look, I get it” Nicole shifted on the ground so she was now on her knees. She turned her gaze up to Wynonna and gave a single, slow nod of her head “You’ve been alone for so long it’s hard to believe that there are still people alive out there. But there are” She motioned to the badge that Wynonna held and again nodded once “I will answer any questions you have but I suggest we do that elsewhere because there is a pack of the undead coming our way.”

This seemed to be enough for Wynonna’s focus to shift from Nicole. She looked up and around the area where they stood. She didn’t see anything immediately so she turned her head to listen. When no peculiar sounds came she arched an eyebrow and looked back at Nicole “I don’t hear anything.”

“Well I do” Nicole got to her feet and reached toward her back to unsheathe her hidden katana, a long and thin bladed sword. She pulled it out and wrapped both hands around the handle as her eyes flickered around the area. “They coming from the west.”

“Woah” Wynonna stepped back from Nicole when she pulled out her weapon. She eyed it up and down before a tiny smirk came to her lips. “Where did you find that?”

“I’ve had it” Nicole said with a shrug. She then moved over toward Waverly. She reached into her trenchcoat once more and pulled out a machete. She gave a nod and motioned for Waverly to take it “You know how to use this?”

“Swing the blade through their brains” Waverly nodded with a bit of excitement lighting up her face.

“No wonder you’ve lasted this long” Nicole gave the girl a soft smile and a wink before turning away from her. She motioned for the girls to get closer to one another before fixing her eyes in the direction of the zombies “There’s probably five or six of them. Mid-grade strength which means they are barely starting to feel hunger. They might not be too aggressive yet. Either way I say we find cover until they pass.”

“Okay, how do you know all of this?” Wynonna huffed out an attempt at sounding annoyed but it came out sounding a little more impressed than anything.

“I just do” Nicole spoke more softly now. She glanced at Wynonna, down to Peacemaker, then back in the direction of the oncoming zombies “Maybe stay behind me. Bullets only slow them down and piss them off.”

Wynonna sounded offended when she huffed this time. She lifted Peacemaker and gave a laxidasical flick of her wrist to the side as a way of motioning to the gun in her hand “I’m about to blow your mind, zombie whisperer.”

“Guys” Waverly hissed out a whisper and lifted the machete she held to point at something. The pack of zombies came walking around the corner just then. It was weird. If they hadn’t known they were zombies they would look like a group of guys just walking down the street. There was nothing to immediately identify them as the undead.

Nicole stepped back and lifted her katana again.

Wynonna lifted Peacemaker and took aim.

Waverly gripped the handle of the machete so tightly her hands were starting to ache. 

The three of them stood there waiting. Nicole’s eyes flickered over the group in an attempt to spot anything threatening. She looked for weapons they might be carrying. She also looked for any signs that the aggressive part of their undead brains had been triggered. A well fed zombie could control that part of themselves. But a zombie that was even the slightest bit hungry could turn into a ravenous monster in a snap.

The wind shifted and the small amount of fresh blood and rabbit brains that Waverly had applied to herself now carried over to the group. The zombies caught the scent and their focus immediately shifted in the direction the wind had come from. That is when they noticed the three girls standing near the shadows at the side of the road. One of the zombies lifted his hand and pointed “The Earp girls found a friend.”

“We have them out numbered! Let’s get them!”

With that the zombies started to rush toward the three girls standing at the ready.

They weren’t like the typical slow moving zombies that were seen in television shows or movies. They were smart. They still had their human logic. So instead of the entire group rushing at them together, making them easier to fight off, they split up in all directions and ducked behind cars, mailboxes, and anything else that was left behind in the streets from all the looting years prior.

Waverly’s attention turned to the right. Her eyes scanned the darkness around her for any sign of movement.

Nicole stepped forward into the light. She took a few steps then stopped suddenly. Her head cocked to the side as if she had picked up on something and was tracking some movements just by the sounds it made.

Wynonna turned to the left. She caught sight of one of the zombies moving between cars and she pulled the trigger on Peacemaker. The bullet pinged off the hood of the car, missing the target by less than an inch. She looked down at the gun and hissed softly “Don’t embarrass me now. I talked mad shit and I would really like to back it up.”

Nicole took off running. She launched herself onto the hood of a car, took three steps over the top, then jumped over the trunk to land with a thud on the ground. When she landed she had trapped one of the zombies between two cars and herself. She smirked and without hesitation swung her razor sharp blade through the air. The blade moved through the zombie’s skull without resistance as the top of his head slid off the rest of his body and fell to the ground.

“Left, Waverly!” Wynonna yelled out to her sister who had been looking behind a cement barrier where she had sworn one of the zombies had crouched down to hide. 

Waverly whirled to the left quickly just in time to see one of them lunging at her. She lifted the machete and the blade slid right between his eyes and came out the other side. She screamed in horror, let go of the handle, and backed away from the zombie who was wailing in pain.

“You have to-” Nicole dove and rolled out of the way of another zombie coming up to her from the side. She popped right back onto her feet and quickly ran the rest of the way toward Waverly. The zombie with the machete in his head growled angrily and was trying to pull the weapon out of his skull without much success. 

Nicole delivered a swift kick to his ribs and sent him flying to the ground. She then stood over top of him and reached for the machete handle. She put her heavy boot on his chest then looked to the side where Waverly stared in horror “You have to cut it all the way off. Like this…” She twisted the blade of the machete and ripped it to the side. This sent a huge chunk of the skull rolling away from the still moving zombie. As the brains left in the remaining half of the skull started to leak out onto the ground the zombie slowly started to lose strength until he finally went limp.

Waverly shook her head slightly and let out a sad sounding sigh “I know. I’m sorry. I-”

“Don’t apologize” Nicole turned the handle of the machete back toward Waverly for her to take and offered her a soft smile. “You’ll get it next time.” She then turned away from Waverly to continue fighting the rest of the pack. That is when she saw Wynonna successfully shoot a zombie in the head. Much to her surprise the bullet not only stopped the monster but managed to kill him. She raised an intrigued eyebrow at that. She had never seen a gun that could successfully kill a zombie.

“How did you do that?” Nicole rushed over to Wynonna with Waverly right behind her.

Wynonna gave a satisfied smirk at the fact that Nicole seemed impressed. She just shrugged then turned to point her gun at another zombie coming toward them. Before she could shoot, though, Nicole was shoving her forcefully out of the way.

A zombie had launched himself off a car and into the air right at Wynonna. Nicole had reacted as quickly as she could. She pushed Wynonna to the ground and stepped into the path. The zombie came crashing down on top of her and the two of them rolled across the dusty road a few times before coming to a stop.

“Are you okay?” Waverly rushed over to her fallen sister with wide eyes.

“Now she’s just showing off” Wynonna groaned as she sat up and started brushing dirt off herself.

“Will you stop being an asshole for five seconds, please?” Waverly pulled her sister to her feet quickly then turned around in time to see a second zombie on top of Nicole. “Shit! Wynonna, come on!” She tugged at her sister’s arm before taking off toward the scuffle in the street.

Before the girls could reach her Nicole managed to kick one of the zombies off her. She had quickly rolled to her side and up onto her knees while swinging her katana as she did so. In that single, fluid motion she sliced right through the second zombie’s head then turned to face the one she had kicked off. With him on the ground she stood quickly and gave one more swing of her weapon. As the skull of the second zombie rolled away from the body Nicole looked up at the approaching sisters with a slight smirk on her lips “Don’t worry, I got this under control.”

“Hooooly shitballs” Waverly paused and stared at the girl in awe.

Wynonna, pretending not to be totally impressed, just rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well, can you do this?” She lifted Peacemaker now to her left without looking and fired. She hit the last zombie between the eyes. As she heard his body hit the ground with a thunk, a smirk lifted onto her features.

Nicole watched the last zombie fall. She gave a single shake of her head as her hand came down to brush the dirt she had accumulated in the scuffle off her trenchcoat “No, I can’t do that. In fact, no one can.” She approached Wynonna with a questioning gesture toward Peacemaker “What kind of gun is that?”

“It’s a family heirloom” Wynonna shrugged and moved the gun behind her back now as if she were afraid Nicole would try and take it from her.

“So it is true?” Nicole’s face lit up a little bit. “Wyatt Earp’s gun can really kill zombies?”

“How did you know…” Wynonna’s eyelashes fluttered in an attempt to keep a straight face even though it was obvious Nicole’s statement had unnerved her a bit “....about that?”

“Are you kidding me? Anyone who has ever studied the history of zombies knows about that” Nicole let out a laugh as she finally moved to slide her katana back into its sheath that she wore on her back. “I’ve always just thought it was an urban legend.”

“You’ve studied zombies?” Waverly chimed in now with an interested tilt of her head.

“Part of my training” Nicole nodded as her eyes moved between the sisters. She was trying to fight off her excitement but it wasn’t working too well. She had read about the Earp family but she kind of thought it was folklore. Standing there now, in front of two of them, she kind of felt like a kid in a candy story “You really are The Earps?”

“That’s what the mailbox says” Wynonna pointed in the direction of the Homestead even though it was miles away.

“Seriously” Nicole moved over to Wynonna now and held her hand out toward her “It’s so fucking cool to meet you.”

Wynonna’s eyes widened in surprise. That was quickly replaced with a skeptical eyebrow raise as she stared at the hand that was being offered to her. She then glanced at Waverly and motioned to Nicole with a nod of her head to the side “You seeing this, babygirl? We have a fan.”

“It’s a pleasure” Waverly rushed over to where Nicole held her hand out and quickly took hold of it. She gave a few gentle shakes and offered a genuine smile. She knew Wynonna wasn’t going to shake her hand so she did it for her. “And thank you. For coming in and…” She motioned back to where she had nearly been taken down by a zombie with a machete in it’s head.

“It’s an honor” Nicole spoke more gently now as her eyes focused on the younger Earp. Try as she might not to stare she couldn’t help it. Waverly was stunning. 

“Woah, hey” Wynonna stepped between the two girls and pried their hands apart now. She turned to face Nicole and frowned at her with a shake of her head “That doesn’t mean you can stay. I still don’t trust you.”

Nicole lifted her hands between herself and Wynonna and took a step back. She gave a single nod as her hands dropped “I totally get it. I have to earn your trust. Like I said, I am willing to answer any questions you have.”

“Mhm” Wynonna hummed out as her eyebrow once more lifted on her forehead. She looked Nicole over just once before she turned to look at her sister. She motioned toward the dead zombies and nodded “Let’s see if they have any brains left.”

“You know zombies don’t eat other zombies, right?” Nicole followed right behind Wynonna as she and Waverly moved to inspect the bodies. “That’s actually a key to their survival. They can’t smell each other’s brains once they turn.”

“Listen” Wynonna whirled around with an annoyed fire in her eyes. She stuffed the end of Peacemaker’s barrel right into Nicole’s throat and growled through her teeth “We’ve been doing things our way for years and it’s working just fine. We don’t need a zombie know-it-all tagging along telling us what to do. Got it?”

“Yeah” Nicole’s hands once more lifted in surrender. She eyed Wynonna for a moment then gave a slight nod “Sure we can do it your way.”

“Wynonna, I swear to god” Waverly came over and not so politely chopped the barrel of Peacemaker off of Nicole’s throat. She then shoved her sister away and put herself between the two girls. She faced Nicole with an apologetic frown “Wynonna’s only instinct is fight. I’d say you’d have to forgive her for that but you don’t. She’s an asshole.”

“An asshole who has kept you alive” Wynonna called out from where she was crouched near one of the bodies. She frowned as she poked the black goo that used to be brains that had spread over the dirt after spilling from the open skull. “Shit.”

“What?” Waverly moved toward her sister now with concern on her face.

“No brains” Wynonna sighed as she stood upright. She looked at the few dead bodies around them and shook her head “None of them have the pink stuff anymore.”

“That’s because they are mid-grade zombies” Nicole spoke almost timidly as she took a step toward the sisters. “The people I work for have been studying the life cycle of zombies and have figured out that once they turn it takes them a certain period of time to completely rot inside. Once everything is finally dead they are classified as full-grade. Still highly functional but they also require the most nourishment to maintain that functionality. They are the first to go crazy when hunger starts to set in. It’s like after you eat dinner and you want dessert? If that urge isn’t satisfied they start to get aggressive.”

Both of the Earp sisters just stared at Nicole looking completely shocked by what she had just said.

Nicole bit her lip shyly and took another step toward the girls as she motioned to the dead zombie near Wynonna’s feet “This one is mid-grade. Little to no brains and most of their organs are probably dead, too. He might still have his liver and kidneys, though.”

Waverly’s eyes fluttered a few times as if she could not focus on everything that had just been said. She gave a quick shake of her head and managed to form an intelligent sentence “Can we use those organs as bait for other zombies?”

“Maybe” Nicole said with a shrug as she moved to crouch beside the body. She reached for the small knife at her waist and stabbed it quickly into his torso. She cut the zombie open from his chest plate all the way to his navel. She then pried the skin open on each side, which was easy because it had lost elasticity, and plunged her hand into his guts.

“Ew” Wynonna gagged and turned her face away.

Waverly’s lips turned up in disgust but she did not look away. Instead she moved to kneel next to Nicole. She watched her hand move around before glancing at the girl “How many zombies have you gutted?”

Nicole let out a breath of a laugh and shook her head “Not many. I usually only see full-grades so I know there’s nothing left inside to find.” She pulled her hand out now and smiled as she revealed a kidney. She held it in her open palm and lifted it closer to Waverly “It’s not black yet which means we might be able to grind it up to release its scent. It’s not as strong as brains but it might be enough to bait a full-grade.”

“Cool Biology lesson, teach, but can we take it on the road?” Wynonna motioned toward where their truck was parked at the end of the block. “I’d feel a lot better knowing we aren’t going to be sneak attacked while we dissect frogs.”

Nicole bit back a sarcastic remark and instead put on a forced smile as she looked up at Wynonna “Do you know of a safe place?”

“Do I know-” Wynonna laughed out at that. She rolled her eyes as a cocky smirk came to her lips “You’ve got a lot to learn, rookie. Come on” She motioned for the others to follow as she moved back to the truck.

“Wynonna, will you wait-” Waverly huffed in annoyance as she climbed to her feet. She shook her head at her sister as her hands brushed dirt off her knees. She glanced back at Nicole and shrugged “She’s really loving once you get to know her.”

“I’m sure she is” Nicole said with a soft laugh. She then reached into her coat pocket and produced a ziplock bag. She shook it open and dropped the kidney inside. She then sealed it up and tucked it back into her pocket before motioning for Waverly to lead the way.

“I’m sorry about earlier” Waverly motioned to the zombie she had macheted as they walked past him. She moved her hand that still held the weapon out toward Nicole “Maybe it’s best if you hold onto this.”

“Keep it” Nicole pushed the offered handle back toward Waverly and gave her a very gentle smile “With a little training you’ll be an expert.”

“Training?” Waverly let out a snort of a laugh and shook her head. “Wynonna won’t let me train. She says it’s too dangerous.”

“Seems to me you’re an adult” Nicole glanced at the girl, looking at her from head to toe just once, before her eyes turned forward again “As far as I’m concerned that means you make your own decisions.”

Waverly couldn’t help but blush now. She wasn’t sure if it was because of how Nicole had just looked at her or if it was the words she had just said to her. No one had ever really treated Waverly like an adult. She was the youngest of three children and thus had been coddled by her parents. She had been 20 when her parents and Willa were killed. Since then she was stuck, perpetually feeling like a child because Wynonna refused to let her do anything on her own. But Nicole, a complete stranger, seemed to have faith in her ability to make her own choices.

“Hurry up” Wynonna seemed annoyed as she stood near her truck with the door open. She motioned for Waverly to get in then looked at Nicole. Her lip curled in disgust and she pointed to the open bed of the truck “You and your gut-covered hand can ride in the back.”

Nicole didn’t argue. She knew the zombie guts would probably stink up the cab. She quickly climbed into the back of the truck and took a seat with her back against the long rear window. She turned to her left and just over her shoulder she saw Waverly looking at her. She gave her a little smile and a nod before turning to look out of the back of the truck as Wynonna put it in drive.

Waverly blushed again. She wasn’t sure why the attention of a total stranger was giving her butterflies. Maybe it was because the only people she had ever really known were her family. She had lived a sheltered life because of the zombies but she was starting to realize that there might still be a world out there full of other humans to discover. Maybe that’s where the butterflies were coming from. The excitement at the possibility that there might be a day when they could leave Purgatory for good and start a life somewhere completely new filled her with a feeling of hope for the first time in longer than she could recall.

~.~.~.~.~.~.

Nicole looked toward the door when she heard a soft knock on the other side. She smiled very lightly and called out “Come in.” She tossed the towel she had been using to dry her hair down onto the chair that sat at the empty desk in the room.

Waverly carefully peeked her head into the room. When she saw Nicole standing, fully dressed, she smiled and walked into the room. “How was your shower?”

“Honestly?” Nicole shook her head with a laugh as she looked down over her bare and scarred arms. She had redressed in her tank top and jeans after her shower. Her right hand slid over her left bicep before she looked back up to Waverly “I can’t remember the last time I had a real shower. So thank you.”

“It is the very least we could do” Waverly gave a nod as her eyes slowly looked over Nicole now that they were in a well lit room and the woman was not hidden by her trenchcoat. It had been hard to see any of Nicole’s physique through the layers she had been wearing but now Waverly was getting a very good look. She was taller than she had seemed to be out on the street and her form was very well defined. She wasn’t overly built but the muscles she did have were sharp. It was easy to tell that Nicole had been physically training for all the zombie hunting she did. She must have been doing it for a while considering all the scars she could see on the woman’s arms.

“Well I still appreciate it” Nicole had been focused on the mirror, brushing her hair, and had not noticed Waverly’s lingering gaze on her. As she set the brush down she turned and reached for some of the clothes she carried with her in a small backpack she wore. She didn’t have many choices but she decided on an old grey hoodie she had stolen off a dead body during her travels and slid it on over her head.

Waverly shook her head and turned her eyes away from Nicole. She had no idea why she was so fascinated with the woman. Probably because she was someone new. Waverly loved her sister but it could be very lonely spending every day with someone who was too busy plotting their next kill. It would be nice to converse with someone who didn’t have the same stories to tell.

“You know I don’t have to stay here if your sister doesn’t want me to” Nicole pulled the ends of her short red hair out of the back of the hoodie then reached for her katana that had been sitting on the bed while she showered and changed. She didn’t go anywhere without it. Zombies could attack at any given moment.

“Oh you probably won’t need that” Waverly motioned to the weapon Nicole was now strapping on and gave her a little smile. “We’re safe here.”

Nicole let out a breath of a laugh as she snapped the strap on the sheath closed across her chest “No offense, because I am sure you have this place booby trapped to all Hell, but nowhere is completely safe.”

Waverly shook her head quickly and offered a smile “Zombies can’t come on our land.” She motioned behind herself toward the rest of the house and shrugged “I guess your history lessons didn’t include that part.”

“What?” It was Nicole’s turn to look surprised. She stared in awe at Waverly for a few seconds as if she were waiting for her to give up the joke and say she was kidding. When that didn’t come she blinked a few times and let out a nervous sounding laugh “Wait, seriously?”

Waverly smiled proudly now. She motioned for Nicole to follow and quickly turned to leave the room. She waited until she was sure the girl was behind her before she led her into the living room. She stopped in front of the huge bookcase that held all of their family heirlooms and motioned to it with a nod “Anything you want to know about Wyatt or anyone else in the family is all right here.”

Nicole’s eyes widened. She looked like she had just discovered a sunken treasure that had only been rumored to exist. She slowly reached out and slid her fingertips over the spine of one of the many scrapbooks that adorned the shelves “This is insane.”

Waverly just shrugged and fought off another smile. She hadn’t ever really thought that people outside their little bubble knew about their family. She had heard rumors and stories as a child but she didn’t realize those stories had been passed around all over the world. It wasn’t until this moment, seeing Nicole in awe like she was, that she was beginning to see that this thing that her great great grandfather had allegedly started was actually a gigantic deal.

“What are you doing?” Wynonna came around the corner just then and slapped Nicole’s hand away from the book.

“Ouch” Nicole pulled her hand back and shook it out a few times. “Dude, do you ever just chill!”

Wynonna lifted Peacemaker, pointed it right between Nicole’s eyes, and gave her a look that almost dared her to keep complaining “I’ll be able to chill once you’re out of my house, dude.”

“Wynonna!” Waverly took a hold of the barrel of the gun and tugged so fiercely she was able to rip it out of her sister’s hand. She quickly turned it around and pointed it at Wynonna as she lifted a challenging eyebrow “How do you like it, huh?”

“Oh ha ha. Very mature” Wynonna rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest. “Let’s just point a gun at someone’s head when we’re not getting our way.” She shrugged then flicked her hand to motion at her sister “Who raised you?”

Waverly rolled her eyes and lowered the gun. She then reached behind her to stuff the barrel into the waist of the pants she wore so she could keep it away from Wynonna for now. “Will you stop being an absolute shit eater to our guest?” She motioned to Nicole beside her so sharply that her arm swung a little too much and she ended up smacking the girl in the stomach.

Nicole made an ‘oof’ sound and reached up to grab at the spot.

“Shit! I didn’t mean to do that!” Waverly turned to check on Nicole with a frown on her lips. “Are you okay?”

Wynonna lunged and quickly snatched Peacemaker out of the back of Waverly’s waistband. She smirked as she held it up triumphantly and motioned to her sister “This is why I’m in charge. You let your guard down too easily.”

“Will you stop treating your sister like a child?” Nicole pointed at Wynonna with a bite in her tone.

Wynonna once more lifted Peacemaker to point at Nicole. The woman had anticipated this response and in one swift movement she grabbed hold of the barrel, swung it to the side, and pulled firmly enough to cause Wynonna to lose her balance. She then bent the arm that held Peacemaker back, whipping it up against Wynonna’s own back, and pushed until her face was pinned against a nearby wall.

“If you don’t stop pointing that thing at me I am going to start getting real annoyed” Nicole growled against Wynonna’s ear just loud enough for her to hear it.

“Neat trick” Wynonna mumbled out of the side of her mouth that was not smashed into the wall. “I could do that if I wanted to. I just don’t want to.”

“Enough you two!” Waverly slid her hands between the two girls and pried them apart. She shoved Nicole backwards then looked at her sister with a shake of her head, “I am so disappointed in you, Wynonna. For years we’ve talked about finding help and when someone finally shows up this is how you treat them?”

Wynonna groaned as she pulled her arm in front of herself and rubbed at her shoulder. She scowled at Nicole then focused on her sister with a shake of her head “Can we talk about this in private?”

“That’s fine by me” Nicole nodded quickly and backed away from the two of them. “I’m going to go familiarize myself with the property. Take your time.” She turned and quickly moved over to the coat rack where she had hung her long coat upon arrival. That is when she noticed it wasn’t there. She arched an eyebrow and motioned to the empty hook before looking back at the others “Where is my coat?”

“Oh, I washed it” Waverly bit her lip shyly. “I’m sorry I was just trying to be nice.”

“It’s fine,” Nicole sighed softly. She knew that the fact that Wynonna was being a dick was not Waverly’s fault. She was just trying to be kind to their guest and her sister was not keen on that idea. 

“You can wear mine” Waverly rushed over and quickly slid her coat off the hook where it was hanging. She opened it up and held it out for Nicole in a way that indicated she would help her put it on.

Nicole quirked an eyebrow at the gesture but did not fight it. Instead she slid her arms into the sleeves one by one. She could immediately tell the coat was going to be tight around her arms but hopefully she wasn’t outside too long. 

“There you are” Waverly stepped around Nicole once she had slid the coat on and reached for the zipper. She quickly worked to pull it up, pulling the coat closed, before she took a step back. She eyed the girl for only a moment before biting back a soft laugh “Okay so my coat is too small for you. We will have to get you a spare one next time we go into town.”

Nicole looked down at herself. She wasn’t much bigger than Waverly, really, but her built physique filled out the garment much more than Waverly’s did. She looked like she was about to pop out of the seams. She looked at the sleeves and her arms stuck out at least three inches too far. She let out a very soft laugh and shook her head, “I appreciate the gesture.”

“Sure” Waverly was still biting back her own amusement. She pulled open the door and motioned for Nicole to go ahead outside. “We won’t be long.”

“Take your time” Nicole nodded just once as she passed the girl and stepped onto the porch.

Waverly watched Nicole take the few steps down from the porch before she turned around and stormed over to her sister. She gave her a swift smack to the side of her head and hissed out “Will you get over yourself?”

“Dude” Wynonna winced and reached up to rub at the spot that Waverly had smacked. “Why are you so fucking quick to take her side? You don’t even know her!”

“I am not taking sides, Wynonna. But she has been pretty straightforward since the moment she walked out into the street to help me when she thought I was injured. You are not being fair to her” Waverly folded her arms tightly and gave her head a slight shake.

Wynonna rolled her eyes and let her hand drop from her head. She gave a shrug and motioned to where Nicole had gone out the front door “Do you remember what happened the last time we trusted someone?”

“She’s on our land” Waverly motioned to the floor she stood on. “She killed zombies. She touched Peacemaker and it didn’t burn her.” She shrugged as if that should have been enough evidence “What is the harm of hearing her out?”

“When I pointed Peacemaker at her the first time it turned white, Waves” Wynonna mimicked Waverly’s shrug as if she had just made a great counterpoint. “What in the Hell is that about?”

“I don’t know” Waverly relented with a soft sigh. She glanced to the side and out the window. She could see Nicole standing near the barn and she bit her lip. Wynonna was right to be cautious. They didn’t know the girl at all. But she had a feeling deep inside her that it was going to be alright. Finally she looked back at her sister and gave a little shrug “Let’s ask her. She said she would answer any questions we had. So…” She motioned toward where Nicole stood outside and nodded “Let’s talk to her and after that if you still aren’t sure we can send her on her way.”

Wynonna could tell by the way Waverly looked at Nicole that there was no reasoning with her sister. So she finally gave in and let out a heavy sigh as she flicked her hand toward where Nicole was “Fine! But you can’t veto my questions.”

“Deal” Waverly gave a nod. “It’s only fair that we get everything out in the open right from the start.”

Wynonna gave another nod. She motioned once more to Nicole then turned toward the kitchen “Go get her. I’ll get the whiskey.”

Waverly moved over to the front door and stepped out onto the porch. She was immediately hit by a cold wind and she shivered as she wrapped her arms around herself. “Nicole,” She called out loudly. When the woman turned toward her she gave a smile and waved her over “Get in here it’s freezing!”

“It’s not that bad” Nicole called back as she turned and headed back toward the house. The cold didn’t really bother her. She wore her hooded trenchcoat mostly for protection from the elements and not for warmth. It didn’t hurt that it had a lot of pockets and helped conceal her weapons.

“Hurry I don’t have a coat” Waverly laughed and waved her arm in a circle to try and get Nicole to put a little pep in her step.

“Sorry about that” Nicole jogged up the porch and started to unzip the coat. “Let’s get you warmed up.” She motioned to the house and reached for the door. She pulled it open and offered Waverly a crooked smile as the girl walked past her. She was already shrugging out of the coat as she followed behind the girl and as the door came closed she was hanging Waverly’s coat back on the hook.

Waverly waited for the girl and when she was finally done with the coat she gave her a smile and nodded for Nicole to follow her. She led Nicole through the Homestead and into the kitchen. When they rounded the corner into the room they saw Wynonna sitting at the table with a bottle of whiskey, three cups, and Peacemaker twirling around her finger.

“Sit” Wynonna stopped twirling the gun and used it to point at the empty seats around the table. She kept her eyes on Nicole as the woman moved to take the seat on Wynonna’s left. As soon as Nicole was settled she lifted Peacemaker and pointed it right between her eyes again “If you lie to me, I’ll shoot.”

“Can you please…” Waverly reached across the table and grabbed hold of Peacemaker. She pulled it away from Nicole’s face and lowered it to the table. She kept her hand tightly over the barrel and gave her sister an annoyed glare “...stop slinging your shaft around? We aren’t men. We don’t need to base our toughness off the size of our tools.”

“Fine” Wynonna let go of Peacemaker and let it lay beneath her sister’s hand on the table. She let out a heavy sigh and looked back at Nicole. She stared her down, almost like she was trying to intimidate her, before she reached out to take hold of the whiskey bottle. She carefully poured a little into each of the cups in front of the girls, dumping into Nicole’s last, before setting the bottle down. She then lifted her drink and motioned to Nicole with a slight nod “Nothing is off limits?”

Nicole, completely unphased by Wynonna’s attempt to rattle her, gave a single shake of her head as she reached for her own glass. She lifted it to her lips and perked a challenging eyebrow before speaking over the rim of her glass “Do your worst.”

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.


	3. The most annoyingly bland X-Men of all time

“Who are you?” Wynonna asked quickly without even blinking.

“Are you deaf or just slow on the uptake? I’ve already answered this question” Nicole smirked and gave a shake of her head as she lifted the cup of whiskey to her lips.

Wynonna went to reach for Peacemaker but Waverly slid the gun toward herself on the table and folded her arms over it. She glared at her sister and shook her head to silently tell her that she was not going to let this situation be escalated by weapons.

An annoyed huff was snorted from Wynonna’s nose before she looked back at Nicole. She clenched her jaw and spoke through gritted teeth “Be more specific.”

“My name is Nicole Haught. I am a member of the X-Division. It’s a government organization that seeks out and destroys zombie colonies while saving any humans that might still be alive in that area.” Nicole rolled her eyes and set down the cup she held but did not take her hand off of it just in case she needed something to defend herself with.

“How did you find us?” Wynonna’s eyes held a skeptical gaze as she stared at the stranger sitting at her kitchen table.

“We track zombie movements via satellite imaging. Large cold spots on maps usually signify colonies. Once a group is located they send out surveillance drones to gather intel. If there are humans in the area they send in rescue personnel first” Nicole motioned to herself and gave a nod. “I have been sent in to save the humans in this area before we can eradicate the colony.”

“How?” Waverly blurted the question out before she realized she had even thought about it.

“Fire bombs” Nicole’s eyes shifted to Waverly and her face softened immediately. She gave a single nod and let a flicker of a smile lift on her lips for just a moment. “But I’d bet my life you have already figured out that is the best way to take them all out at once.”

“Kind of, yeah” Waverly bit her lips shyly. The way Nicole spoke so gently toward her made her stomach twist up a bit. She knew she should be more cautious but everything inside her was telling her to put her complete trust in this stranger. “But we don’t have enough fuel or a way to deliver it.”

“Well you do now” Nicole nodded almost proudly as her hand reached across the table to gently lay against Waverly’s “Help is on the way.”

“Okay enough flirting” Wynonna looked a little surprised at what she was seeing and quickly reached out to pull Nicole’s hand off of Waverly’s. She shook her head and focused back on Nicole “How soon until your supposed backup shows up?”

“After I get all the humans out” Nicole’s eyes shifted back to Wynonna and the softness in her face faded. 

Wynonna puffed out a laugh and motioned to her sister then back to herself and shook her head, “We can’t leave the area. But that shouldn’t really matter considering the zombie factory is on the other end of town. They can just light that shit hole up and….” She snapped her fingers and gave a shrug “...boom no more rotting shitbags to worry about.”

Nicole’s brows creased together and she looked almost appalled by what Wynonna had just said. She gave a shake of her head as she glanced between the two girls and when it was obvious that they both agreed that was a great plan she let out a huff “There are other humans in the area.”

“What?” The sisters both spat the word out in surprise at the same time.

Nicole, still looking a little confused by their ignorance of what was going on, gave a nod and motioned behind her to nowhere in particular “They have a couple dozen humans in that factory. We’re not really sure what they are doing with them but we can’t fire bomb it until we get them out.”

The sisters looked at each other as the surprise on their faces rose. Waverly’s eyes fluttered a few times as if she were trying to focus on what she had just learned. After a moment she looked back at Nicole and was barely able to breathe the words out “We’re not alone?”

“Not by a long shot” Nicole’s head shook quickly. She shifted and leaned her elbow onto the table and focused on Waverly now as she spoke “You two didn’t know there were others?”

“We haven’t seen another human in…” Waverly shook her head and let out a very soft sigh “We’ve been alone for a really long time.”

Nicole couldn’t believe it. She looked from Waverly to Wynonna and back again. When it looked like they were telling the truth she sat back in her chair and let out a heavy sigh. She reached for her glass and dumped the rest of the whiskey it held into her mouth. Once she swallowed it she licked her lips and shrugged “Well, shit.”

“Wait” Wynonna lifted her hand slightly, her eyes narrowing on Nicole suspiciously, and gave her head a shake “How do I know you’re not just leading us into a trap?”

Nicole rolled her eyes because she was getting really tired of Wynonna thinking she was trying to kill them “I saved your life out there. I have no idea how else I can prove to you that I’m on your side.”

“Why did my gun turn white when I pointed it at you?” Wynonna motioned to Peacemaker which was still tucked tightly under Waverly’s folded arms.

“I have no idea” Nicole motioned to the gun too and shook her head. “You would know more about how your ancestor’s gun works than I do.”

“You’re not telling me something” Wynonna pointed at Nicole firmly now. “Peacemaker turns blue when you point it at a human and red when you point it at a zombie. It’s worked like that since the day my daddy shot his first zombie until the moment I pointed it at you. The only thing that’s changed here is you. So…” She motioned to Nicole’s entire being and gave a single nod “By all reasoning there has to be something wrong with you.”

“Again, are you deaf? I just told you I have no idea why-”

“You’re lying!” Wynonna yelled as she slammed her first against the top of the table. She then pointed her finger in Nicole’s face and spoke through a growl. “I’m giving you one more chance to tell me the truth before I beat it out of you.”

“You better get your trigger finger out of my face if you ever want to shoot a gun again” Nicole puffed up defensively as her eyes locked on Wynonna’s defiantly.

“Stop!” Waverly stood up now and lifted Peacemaker off the table. She pointed the gun at her sister first, then moved it to Nicole, before slowly moving it between the two of them. “Just knock it off! Shouting is not going to solve anything!”

“She’s lying” Wynonna motioned fiercely at Nicole as she looked at her sister.

“I have no idea how your stupid gun works!” Nicole threw her hands up out of frustration as she stood from the table. She took a few steps away then paused and looked back. She looked between the two sisters and gave her head a shake “I am going to gather my things and get the Hell out of here.”

“No, wait” Waverly scrambled around the table in order to put herself between Nicole and the doorway she was heading toward. She shook her head as she fixed the woman with a pleading stare “Please don’t leave. We need your help.”

“Your sister obviously has no interest in anyone else” Nicole motioned behind her to where Wynonna still sat in the kitchen. “She doesn’t want my help and I’m not sure I want to give it to her.”

“Then leave” Wynonna barked from behind them since she could very clearly hear what they were saying. “You’re right. I don’t care about anyone else but myself and my sister.”

Nicole whirled around and her chest heaved with anger as she fixed a glare on Wynonna “Don’t you want this to end? Don’t you want to live a normal life where you don’t have to worry about the dead feasting on you?”

“I want to protect my family” Wynonna motioned to Waverly then gave her head a shake. “If that means it’s just the two of us for the rest of our lives then that’s fine by me.”

“But it’s not fine by me!” Waverly snapped a little more loudly than she had intended as she stepped between Nicole and Wynonna once more. She looked at her sister firmly but with a hint of sadness in her eyes. “I don’t want to just survive, Wynonna. I want to live. I want to travel and hear children laughing and pet a cat.” Her head gave a little shake and a very tired sounding sigh left her lips “If there is even the smallest chance of having a normal life then I say we do what we can to make that happen.”

“But what if-”

“I am sick of fighting” Waverly cut her sister off quickly. “Wynonna there are other people in the world. Don’t you want to at least try?”

Wynonna opened her mouth to argue but the look in her sister’s eyes just then nearly broke her heart. She had lived her entire life worried about how they were going to keep surviving to the point that she had never really stopped to think about the idea that all of this could be over one day. She never considered just how badly her sister might yearn for a day when fighting was not the only thing they did. She let out a heavy sigh and finally gave a nod “Okay, babygirl. We will try and get the others out.”

Waverly was so relieved to hear that her sister was willing to try that she quickly lunged at her and wrapped her arms around in her a tight hug. She held it for a moment before pulling back and giving her a smile “Thank you.”

“But I don’t trust her” Wynonna motioned to Nicole, who was just a few feet away.

“Look, man” Nicole lifted her hands in a motion of surrender to show Wynonna she was not up for any more arguing. “We don’t have to get along but we do have to work together. As long as you can agree to that then we can agree to disagree on everything else.”

“Fine” Wynonna rolled her eyes at that. “But if you betray us you better believe it’s going to be me that kills you.”

“Whatever” Nicole gave her head an annoyed shake then turned around to leave the kitchen again. “I’m going to go radio HQ and give them a status report.”

“Radio?” The sisters once more spoke in surprised unison.

Nicole turned around slowly and perked a curious eyebrow. She gave a single nod and let out a soft laugh “Yes? How else do you expect me to communicate with my superior?”

Waverly looked at Wynonna with wide eyes and motioned to Nicole “Other people! Proof that she isn’t lying. See?”

Wynonna held a hand up in a motion to quiet her sister’s excitement before she focused back on Nicole “I want to listen to that call. I want to be sure you’re not lying.”

Nicole shook her head but again did not argue. She instead turned, motioned for Wynonna to follow, then headed through the Homestead toward the room where her backpack had been left. She quickly fished out her radio once she was in the room and after turning it on, she turned around and waited for the other two. When it looked like both Wynonna and Waverly were paying attention she motioned to the radio in her hand as if making a point that she was about to use it before she pressed the button and spoke into it “Special Agent Haught reporting from Q4. Please respond.”

There was silence at the other end. This made Wynonna immediately skeptical.

“Special Agent Haught reporting from Q4. Please respond” Nicole repeated. She did not look worried by the lack of response on the other end. It was typical.

Wynonna folded her arms and stepped toward Nicole with an eyebrow arched on her forehead “Are you sure they’re listening?”

“Of course they are” Nicole rolled her eyes then lifted the radio to her mouth once more. Before she could speak again the static on the radio broke and a voice crackled through the speaker.

“10-4, Haught. Status report.”

“See” Nicole motioned to the radio with another roll of her eyes. She didn’t like the idea that she was always going to have to prove she wasn’t lying. She cleared her throat and spoke firmly “Encountered six undead and two living. Undead dispatched. Living are unharmed. Starting surveillance of the colony tomorrow.”

“Affirmative. Channel 14. Over and out.”

Nicole gave a nod of understanding toward the radio then turned it off. She then glanced at Wynonna with a look that silently asked if the woman believed her now.

“That’s it?” Wynonna looked a little disappointed as she motioned to the radio. “I’ve had more stimulating conversations with a rock!”

“The conversations have to be brief just in case the zombies are on that channel. We don’t want them to know that we are aware of them” Nicole shrugged and put the radio back into her bag. She then turned and sat on the edge of the bed where her bag was placed. She looked between the girls and shrugged “So now we wait.”

“For what?” Wynonna let out a laugh of disbelief because it didn’t seem like anything of substance had happened at all.

“For tomorrow” Nicole said with a little shrug. “We set out to get as close to the factory as possible so we can watch them. Figure out their movements, what they are up to, and most importantly where they are keeping the humans. Then we can start figuring out how to get them out safely.”

“We can’t get anywhere near the factory” Wynonna gave a quick shake of her head and a huff as if Nicole was an idiot for having said that. “They have a perimeter of zombies at varying points around the factory. They are always scouting the area. We’d be outnumbered five to one.”

Nicole just rolled her eyes again because Wynonna’s insistence that they stood no chance was getting really annoying. She glanced past the woman to where Waverly was standing and motioned to Wynonna “Can you please remind her that I’m trained for this?”

“Don’t talk to me like I’m an idiot” Wynonna snarled.

“Then stop acting like one” Nicole growled back. “I know what I’m doing. I’ve been training for this most of my life. I’m not going to do anything stupid.”

“Well I know this town” Wynonna pointed toward the ground to emphasize where they were. “I know these zombies and I know how they think.”

“That is exactly why we need to work together” Waverly cut in again and stepped between the girls. She realized she was going to be playing the mediator between these two fairly often. She looked at both the women just once then focused on her sister. “With our knowledge of Purgatory, the zombies, and the factory we will be able to use Nicole’s training to come up with the perfect plan.”

“I’m getting really sick of you stepping in to defend her” Wynonna hissed before stepping backwards and throwing her hands up in defeat.

“I’m not defending her. I’m trying to be reasonable here” Waverly motioned behind herself to where Nicole sat before bringing her hand forward toward her sister. “You are both blinded by your own way of doing things. I’m just trying to get you to open your eyes and consider a new option, okay?” She half turned now so she could see both girls again before she gave a nod “We have new options, Wynonna. Let’s give them a shot.”

“I’m going to let you two continue to argue about this” Nicole interrupted bluntly while sliding her backpack over her shoulders. She then looked up at the girls and motioned to somewhere other than the room they were standing in “I will take first watch tonight. You two decide if you are going to come with me or not. Either way I am leaving in the morning toward the colony.”

“Nicole, wait! You don’t-” Waverly tried to stop the woman but she moved by them quickly and made her way toward the door. She watched Nicole until she was out of sight before she turned and gave her sister a disappointed shake of her head “Why are you being so stubborn?”

“Why aren’t you being more cautious?” Wynonna shrugged and stepped away from her sister with a frustrated huff. “We don’t even know her, Waves.”

“But we can” Waverly motioned vaguely toward where Nicole had walked out of the room. “She hasn’t lied to us once, Wynonna. She has put up with your suspicions and proved time and again that she is being honest. Why is this so hard for you to accept?”

Wynonna just rolled her eyes and threw her hands out on each side of herself in an emphasized shrug “Peacemaker turned white.”

“White is often associated with Heavenly or Ethereal beings in a lot of mythology” Waverly shrugged at the suggestion before a smirk came to her lips “Maybe she’s a unicorn?”

Wynonna lips sputtered as she spat out a laugh “Yeah right. There’s more of a chance of her being an X-Men” An eyebrow quirked slightly and she motioned behind herself to where Nicole had disappeared and gave a nod “She did say she works for X-Division or something, right?”

“You believe she could be a genetically engineered mutant?” Waverly arched an eyebrow at her sister and gave a slight shake of her head. “At least I was being completely facetious. You need to stop reading comic books.”

“Genetic engineering has been happening for decades” Wynonna held her finger up as if she was making a valid point. “Like doctors trying to synthesize cures for diseases or parents who want to pick the eye color of their babies?”

Waverly laughed again and gave an amused shake of her head as she now moved to walk out of the room. “Okay, fine, she’s an X-Men. Would that make you trust her a little more?”

“Probably” Wynonna playfully admitted as she moved to follow her sister. “But also I’d be totally jealous that she has superpowers.”

“Well maybe once we get the others out of the factory and we can finally leave here, her superiors will juice you up with some powers of your own” Waverly snickered as she moved through the kitchen now.

“You think?” Wynonna’s eyes widened with excitement as she followed her sister. She watched Waverly move about and after a moment she lifted an eyebrow at her “Wait, what are you doing?”

“I’m going to go give Nicole some dinner” Waverly motioned to some of the food she had packed into a bag before she reached into the fridge. She fished out one of the many bottles of water they stored in there before kicking the door closed and turning toward the back door. She slid on one of her heavy coats she had scattered around the Homestead. Before she left she looked back to her sister with a little shrug “You should get some rest while she’s on watch. I’ll let her know to come get you in a few hours.”

Wynonna let out a soft sigh and her amused smile from just moments earlier faded. She motioned to her sister and gave a shake of her head “Be careful, Waves.”

“I trust her” Waverly just shrugged her sister’s concern off then hurried outside. The night had fallen and brought with it the usual Purgatory cold. She shivered slightly but didn’t let it deter her from her goal. She quickly made her way over toward where Nicole had started a fire near the barn.

Nicole had heard the door close when Waverly came out of the Homestead. She glanced up at the sound and when she realized that Waverly was coming over to her she couldn’t help but smile. She was used to being alone but there was something about Waverly that made her more open to the idea of having some company on her mission.

“Wynonna usually takes watch at the top of the barn” Waverly motioned to the highest point of the building and gave Nicole a soft smile.

“I figured you didn’t want me having a fire in there” Nicole shrugged as she held her hands out toward the warm flames. 

“I guess a lantern doesn’t offer much heat” Waverly nodded in agreement before she took a seat next to Nicole on one of the few logs that surrounded the fire pit they had on their land. She then offered the bag of food she had gathered from inside to Nicole with a nod “I thought you might be hungry.”

“Thanks” Nicole took the offered bag and gave Waverly a soft smile. She set the bag on her lap and started to dig through it. She perked an eyebrow as she pulled out a very fresh looking apple and motioned with it to get Waverly’s attention “You still have fresh produce around here?”

“Oh yeah” Waverly nodded excitedly now and motioned toward where their greenhouse was somewhere in the distance “I’ve been gardening most of my life. The outbreak had already started by the time I was born so we were pretty much raised to grow or kill all our own food.”

Nicole looked down at the fruit and a flicker of a smile came to her lips. It had been a very long time since she had eaten something fresh. Most of her meals were pre-packaged freeze-dried food while she was on a mission. X-Division had farms but they usually turned whatever was grown into high efficiency rations for all the people in their camp. It was rare that there was enough surplus that they actually handed out fresh food to anyone

Waverly watched as Nicole eyed the fruit as if it were too good to be true. A small smile came over her features as the girl took a bite and immediately let out a pleased sound. She bit back a very soft laugh. She wasn’t sure why she was so amused by Nicole’s reaction. Maybe it was because she had been alone with Wynonna for so long that she forgot that other people had different personalities. 

Nicole saw Waverly watching her and she gave a wide smile as she chewed the mouthful of apple she had taken in.

“Good?” Waverly asked through a very soft giggle now.

Nicole nodded and used the back of her hand to wipe at the juice that had dribbled down her chin during her bite. She crunched a few more times before she was able to swallow. Now with her mouth clear she chuckled lightly and looked at the fruit she had just enjoyed “That is one of the best things I have ever eaten.”

“You’re just being polite” Waverly rolled her eyes at the overly enthusiastic response from her guest.

“I’m serious” Nicole spoke softly but firmly as her eyes fixed on Waverly. “I haven’t lied yet so why would I start now?”

The intensity in Nicole’s eyes mixed with the honesty of her words and it sent a flutter through Waverly. She had literally never met anyone in her life that she wasn’t related to so she wondered if this was what it was like every time you met someone new. Her head shook the thoughts away and though her smile held her voice lowered into a more serious tone “Speaking of you not lying…” She bit her lip timidly now and gave a shrug “...can I ask you something?”

“Just ask” Nicole gave a nod as she looked back at the apple in her hand. “You don’t need permission to ask me something. I won’t ever be offended by it.”

“Sorry” Waverly let out a sigh because she felt like she had upset Nicole. She knew the girl had faced nothing but questions since the moment they had met. She could only imagine how annoyed she must be by all the uncertainty that surrounded her. She shook that thought off quickly and looked back at Nicole with a soft smile on her lips before clearing her throat to speak so she wasn’t mumbling “I saw a lot of scars on your arms while you were changing earlier...”

Nicole gave a nod as she took another bite of the apple. She closed her eyes as she chewed to let herself fully enjoy the flavor. After a moment she let out a sigh of approval and opened her eyes again. She glanced at Waverly who was looking at her expectantly. This made her quickly force down her bite even though it wasn’t fully chewed. She blinked once as the chunk slid painfully down her throat. She shook it off and let out a labored cough “I’m sorry was there a question in there?”

“Oh my god” Waverly reached for the bag of things she had brought out and dug out the plastic bottle of water she had put in there. She offered it to Nicole and frowned apologetically at her “I didn’t mean to make you feel rushed. You’re absolutely right! I didn’t really ask you anything.”

Nicole took the water and quickly swallowed a few drinks out of the bottle. Once she felt the food had passed completely she cleared her throat and gave Waverly a weak smile “I totally thought I had zoned out and ignored your question. My bad.”

“No I hadn’t technically asked a question” Waverly frowned because she felt awkward. Was this how every interaction with someone she didn’t know would go? A string of miscommunication that led to them apologizing and clarifying back and forth until the point was moot? She really hoped not.

Nicole pushed the sleeves of her hoodie up on each of her arms to expose some of the scars there. She turned to face Waverly a little better and held her arms out for the girl to see clearly in the light of the fire “Most of these are from training or fighting zombies.”

“You don’t have a coat on” Waverly’s eyes lifted to Nicole with a frown as she just now realized the woman was outside with no more than the hoodie she had put on after her shower.

“You….” Nicole lifted an eyebrow at the change of subject. She eyed Waverly curiously for a moment then laughed “You washed it, remember?”

“It’s probably dry by now. Let me go get it!” Waverly stood from the log quickly.

“Later” Nicole reached out and grabbed a hold of Waverly’s hand before she could leave. When the girl looked at her curiously she gave a shake of her head, “I’m not that cold.”

“You’re crazy. It’s freezing out here” Waverly eyed Nicole over slowly, almost as if she were looking for signs that she was just being polite, before she finally relented and sat back down. 

Nicole waved the notion off. She was chilly but she didn’t want to make Waverly run all the way back inside just for her coat. She would survive. So she quickly shifted focus back to her exposed arms and held them out again “As I was saying these are mostly the product of my training. But…” She tapped a scar near her left wrist on the thumb side of her arm and laughed “I burned myself on a pan when I was trying to cook once. Needless to say that was the last time I tried that.”

Waverly laughed very softly and reached for Nicole’s left arm. She took hold of it gently and slowly ran her fingertip over the scar Nicole had pointed out. She gave her head a little shake and lifted her eyes to the woman now “So you can’t cook?”

“No need” Nicole admitted with a shake of her head as she focused her eyes delicately on Waverly who had gone back to inspecting her scars. “X-Division rations all of the food in The Garden to us daily. Cooking is considered a trade more than a life skill.”

Waverly couldn’t believe that. She couldn’t imagine a world where everything was done for her. She had been providing for herself and Wynonna for most of her life. The idea that there was a place where she didn’t have to do any of it herself blew her mind. Her eyes lifted to look at Nicole and that is when she realized the girl was watching her. She felt herself blush, a nearly foreign sensation to her, as she let out a sigh “What’s it like there? The Garden, you called it? Is that the name of the community?"

Nicole just shrugged as she worked to push the sleeves of her hoodie back over her arms now that it seemed that Waverly was done inspecting them. She thought it over for a moment because she wanted to find the right word. She settled on what she felt was the best description after a few heartbeats of thought and nodded at herself before focusing back on Waverly “Clinical.”

Waverly’s eyes fluttered in surprise at the unexpected description she had just gotten. It was the last word she would have anticipated to come from Nicole’s mouth. It took her a few seconds to process before she finally gave a confused sounding breath of a laugh “Clinical? Like a hospital?”

“More like everything has its purpose” Nicole shrugged slightly at that. She hadn’t really thought too much about how things were run in The Garden until she had started leaving it to go on recon missions. Now she realized it was all very organized. Cold, almost. She gave a quick shake of her head and tried again “Unemotional might be a better word. It’s like a well-oiled machine. High efficiency to maximize results.”

Waverly just nodded because she understood what Nicole was trying to say. It made her frown to think about. Nicole seemed nice. She hadn’t met anyone else in the world but she had seen plenty of movies and read plenty of books and from what she could tell Nicole did not seem to be a product of a place that could be described as unemotional. She reached out to gently put a hand over Nicole’s knee and tried to offer her a gentle smile “Do you miss it?”

“Not really” Nicole’s tone was almost one of amusement when she answered. “When I’m out on missions I feel like I’m free. When I’m back there, I…” She let out a heavy sigh and just shook her head quickly as if shaking away what she had been about to say. She offered Waverly a crooked smile as her hand flicked to the side dismissively “I like being useful.”

Waverly could tell the subject wasn’t one that Nicole was comfortable with. She wasn’t lying about it but she was definitely trying to skirt around it. So she decided not to push it for the moment. The girl had already been badgered enough by Wynonna. Instead she decided to shift the conversation to a much lighter subject “Does your family live there, too?”

“My parents are dead” Nicole seemed unnervingly unaffected by that fact as she spoke it. She reached into the bag Waverly had brought out again and this time found an egg. She quirked an eyebrow at it for a moment then lifted it to show Waverly as a smile took over her features “You guys have eggs?”

“We have chickens” Waverly confirmed with a nod as she stared with a look of near horror on her face at how nonchalant Nicole had just been. She blinked a few times and when Nicole’s focus turned to unshelling the boiled egg she let out a huff “Aren’t you sad that your parents are dead?”

Nicole just shrugged as she tossed a bit of shell from the egg into the fire. She looked up at Waverly and when she noticed the shocked look on her face she just shook her head, “They were killed by zombies. It’s a sad reality of the world we live in but it’s what happens. I mean, most of the world’s population are undead at this point. It’s naive to believe that everyone you love can survive.”

“Then why do you do this?” Waverly motioned vaguely to the area that surrounded them before looking back to Nicole with a shrug. “Why do you rescue humans and bring them to safety if you believe their chance of survival is so low?”

“The Garden is a safe haven” Nicole said as if that should have been obvious. “It is impenetrable by zombies. X-Division feeds everyone and assigns them work. They care for the sick and they teach the children.” She shrugged and looked at the hard boiled egg she had yet to take a bite out of before shaking her head “The people we rescue never have to think about zombies again if they don’t want to.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to offend you” Waverly frowned and looked at her feet against the dirt. 

“You didn’t” Nicole stated honestly before lifting the egg to finally take a bite.

Waverly arched an eyebrow at Nicole now. The more she talked to her the more she could see the unemotional influence that X-Division had had on her. The woman definitely had a by the book, no nonsense way about her when it came to certain subjects. She wondered if she had always been like that or if it had come from all of her training. 

“It’s getting late” She decided to leave Nicole to her own devices. She was getting the feeling that the woman was used to being alone so she stood and motioned to the Homestead behind her “I will go get your coat and then I think I’m going to get a few hours of rest.”

Nicole, her mouth full of food, looked at Waverly and offered her a soft smile and nod of acknowledgement.

“Just come get us when you need some sleep” Waverly once more motioned behind her as she started to move away from the fire.

Nicole lifted her hand and gave the girl a thumbs up. So maybe she wasn’t the best at socializing just yet but she would learn. Hopefully.

“Have a good night” Waverly finally smiled before she turned and headed toward the house. Nicole was a little odd but, then again, the only people she had to compare her with were the members of her family. Even then she had a feeling deep inside that told her Nicole was a good person. They just needed to get to know each other better. Either way she was going to trust her gut. Right now her gut was telling her to put complete faith in the weird stranger that had come out of nowhere with a plan to save Purgatory.

“Did you guys have a pillow fight and paint each other’s nails?” Wynonna asked with a smirk when Waverly walked inside.

Waverly just gave her sister an annoyed look as she moved through the house to where they hung the clothes they cleaned. She pulled the heavy trench coat off the line and gently folded it over her arm. When she came back into the living room where Wynonna was not so subtly spying on Nicole through the front window she let out a sigh “We just talked. She’s nice.”

“I’m sure she is” Wynonna grumbled without taking her eyes off of the window.

“If you took five minutes to talk to her you might realize you two are more alike than you think” Waverly folded her arms together now and glared at her sister who was still staring out the window.

“I highly doubt that” Wynonna gave her head a quick shake before she glanced away. When she saw the way Waverly was scowling at her she rolled her eyes and motioned toward the window she had just been looking through “Look, I’m just being careful, babygirl. She might have you swooning all over her knight in shining armor gimmick but I am not buying it.”

“I am not swooning” Waverly felt herself blush but it was dark enough in the house that Wynonna did not notice it. She was pretty sure she wasn’t swooning. She had never experienced swooning before, though, so maybe she was. That didn’t matter. She shook that idea away and let out another sigh, “It’s not a gimmick, either. You heard her talking on the radio. There are really people out there willing to help.”

“I heard you the first twelve times you defended her” Wynonna held up her hand in a motion that told her sister she was not trying to argue again. She let out a heavy sigh and slowly lowered her hand when she saw Waverly’s defensive stance lower slightly. “You want to trust her. You want to do things her way. I heard you, babygirl. I won’t fight it anymore, okay?”

“Really?” Waverly eyed her sister suspiciously for a moment. Wynonna was the most stubborn person in the world so her having a change of heart was definitely not something Waverly was used to seeing in her sister.

“But I’m not going to go gaga over her like you are” Wynonna shrugged at her own words then looked back out of the window to where Nicole sat at the fire. “Until the day I know for sure we are safe, we always have to act like we’re in danger, okay? So just let me be suspicious of everything. Just in case.”

“Fine” Waverly whispered with a soft smile on her face. Wynonna was not the type to compromise but something inside her was bending in order to please her sister. It was small but showed Waverly just how important she was to Wynonna. It meant more to her than she would ever be able to say. “Thank you” She finally mumbled before moving over to where her sister sat. She leaned down and placed a very light kiss on her cheek “I promise to listen to you if you get a bad feeling about any of this.”

“No you won’t” Wynonna laughed the words out softly as an amused smirk came to her lips. “You and I both know how stubborn we are. It’s in our genes. But…” The smile held on her lips as she gave a shrug “I know when it matters most we will always be on the same page.”

“Always” Waverly agreed with a quick nod. The two of them shared a smile and in that moment they both knew that no matter what happened with Nicole it would still always be the two of them fighting together. That was simply who they were. 

“Now go” Wynonna waved her hand in a shooing motion. “Go give Jubilee her coat then go get some rest.”

“Jubilee?” Waverly’s eyebrows arched curiously at the nickname.

“The most annoyingly bland X-Men of all time” Wynonna smirked at her answer because she thought she was hilarious.

“You’re obnoxious” Waverly huffed out with a laugh before turning and heading out of the house again. The smile stayed on her lips as she headed toward Nicole. Her sister didn’t bend her will, ever, but she was going to give it a shot and that meant the world to her. Maybe, in her own little way, it was Wynonna agreeing that having Nicole’s help wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

“Here you are” She said softly, so as not to startle Nicole, as she offered the girl her clean coat.

“Thanks” Nicole answered with a soft nod. She hadn’t been startled because she had again heard the door close when Waverly exited the house. She looked the girl over once then motioned to the house “Is your sister still skeptical?”

“She will be until the day she dies” Waverly admitted with a shrug. “But she agreed to go scouting tomorrow so that’s a step in the right direction.”

“I’ll take it” Nicole’s tone was soft but sincere. She then glanced at her coat and nodded before her eyes lifted back to Waverly “Thank you for this, by the way. I can’t remember the last time I had clean clothes.”

“It was no trouble at all” Waverly gave a wave of her hand to the side then quickly motioned back to the house. “I am going to get some rest now. Please don’t hesitate to wake me up if you want to swap.”

Nicole nodded but the look on her face told Waverly that she had no intention of sleeping that night. “Sweet dreams, Waverly.”

“Be safe” Waverly whispered before she turned to head back to the house. She had no idea why the way Nicole spoke to her had the effect that it did on her. She wasn’t sure if it was a normal response or not. She had never had to make a friend before. All she knew was, in general, she very much enjoyed Nicole’s company and she couldn’t wait to get to know her more.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.


	4. Make it so that when people hear the Earp name they think of a hero

Wynonna pulled her eye away from the lens of the telescope she was staring through at the top of the bell tower in town when she heard the door behind her open. She turned her head fully expecting to see her sister walk in. When she instead saw Nicole she frowned and looked back to the telescope. She leaned back into the eye piece and let out a sigh “Where’s Waverly?”

“She sent me up here to ask you if you wanted anything while she goes through some of the stores” Nicole mumbled with a shrug as her eyes focused past Wynonna to the view that they had from their position. She perked an eyebrow and a soft smile came to her lips as she motioned out of the tower toward their view “This is a great vantage point.”

“You left her alone?” Wynonna’s head pulled back from the telescope once more and she fixed Nicole with a glare. 

“She has a machete” Nicole once more gave a casual shrug as she moved to settle next to Wynonna. She motioned to the eye piece and raised an eyebrow in question “Can I take a look?”

“She is not a trained fighter like you” Wynonna stood up quickly from where she sat and gave an angry huff. “You can’t leave her alone.”

“I think she can handle herself just fine” Nicole mumbled as her eye settled into the telescope. “Besides we would see any threats coming for miles before they got here. We would be able to get down to her with plenty of time to spare.”

“You have got to be kidding me” Wynonna growled as she turned toward the door so she could go find Waverly.

Nicole’s arm whipped back quickly and she managed to grab hold of Wynonna’s wrist to stop her from leaving. The space was small, barely big enough for two people, so Nicole’s arm was more than long enough to reach Wynonna. She wrapped her hand around her wrist tightly and gave a pull “Leave her alone.”

“You have no right-” Wynonna looked down and gave a tug to her wrist. She frowned and breathed out a soft dissatisfied grunt at the fact that Nicole had a hold of her. Her eyes lifted in a challenging glare toward Nicole as she hissed with a fire behind her words “Get your hand off of me.”

“You need to stop coddling her” Nicole’s tone was calm and even. She hadn’t even looked away from the telescope. Her hand held firmly to Wynonna.

“You need to-” Wynonna grunted as she tried to pull her arm free again. When she was once more met with resistance she huffed in frustration and shook her head “Get your damn hands off me!”

“What happens if you’re gone?” Nicole’s hand remained in place as she continued to speak calmly but firmly. She wanted to show Wynonna she was not trying to argue but she also needed her to hear what she was saying.

“I’m not gone” Wynonna nearly yelled as she gave a frustrated pull of her arm once more. She grumbled as she focused on her wrist being restrained firmly. “Dude, you are freakishly strong, I get it, but if you don’t remove your hand from my wrist in the next five seconds I’m going to blow your brains out and not feel one ounce of regret about it.”

Nicole finally pulled her eyes away from the telescope. She focused a very stoic look on Wynonna as she slowly unwrapped her fingers from her wrist. “Will you please just listen to me?”

“You’re fucking bossy do you know that?” Wynonna grumbled as she pulled her wrist up to her chest and used her other hand to rub at it gently. She fixed a scowl on Nicole and gave her head a shake “My sister is none of your business.”

“My business includes saving as many humans as I possibly can and bringing them back to my headquarters so we can save humanity. Your sister is part of that humanity. She is very much my business” Nicole gave a motion to Wynonna with a nod “As are you. I have nothing but the best of intentions in mind and I would appreciate a little more cooperation from you because we have the same goal.”

“No we do not” Wynonna growled as she dropped her wrist from her chest now and pointed right in Nicole’s face. “My goal is to keep Waverly alive. I don’t care about anyone else.”

“Why not?” Nicole’s question came out evenly to show she was not trying to antagonize Wynonna but understand her instead.

“Because she’s my family” Wynonna snorted and rolled her eyes. She was tired of repeating herself.

“I understand that. But why aren’t you concerned with the rest of humanity, Wynonna?” Nicole’s tone was on the verge of sounding sad when she asked the question this time. “The more humans we can save the more we have to start a brand new world. A world where your family can flourish and grow.” She gave a shrug now and motioned to somewhere else vaguely “so the legacy that you are fighting so hard to protect can continue.”

“My legacy is what started all this bullshit” Wynonna coughed with another roll of her eyes. Her hand instinctively reached down to her hip where Peacemaker sat. She let out a heavy sigh at the weight she carried knowing it was all because of her ancestry that the world was in this condition. Her eyes fell and she looked at the gun on her hip. Her head gave a shake before her eyes lifted again to find Nicole watching her carefully. This made her roll her eyes as she attempted to shake all of that off and put back on the gritty toughness she used as a shield for survival. “My legacy isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.”

“So rewrite it” Nicole whispered now since the space was not large and she could see that Wynonna had just had a moment of vulnerability. She wasn’t the best with emotions, since it was drilled into her during her training that emotions had no place in survival, but she could see when someone was being human and knew the importance of moments like that. It was what she was fighting to save. Humanity.

Wynonna tried to shake off the notion and rolled her eyes again but it fell flat. She was so used to fighting and being tough for her sister that she wasn’t really sure how to deal with feeling anything else. She also didn’t like that a stranger, one she didn’t even trust, was tapping into the emotions she had worked so hard to push down. “You can’t rewrite history, Soldier Stupid.”

“But you can rewrite your story” Nicole’s head shook very slightly. Her face was soft but it didn’t hold pity or sorrow. It simply just looked as if she were listening carefully and responding to that. “I know it was your great great grandpa that started all of this but that doesn’t mean you have to carry that burden. Change your story. Be the Earp that helps end it. Make it so that when people hear the Earp name they think of a hero.”

Wynonna opened her mouth to respond with something undeniably sarcastic but was cut off when the door to the bell tower bumped her in the back. She quickly turned and stepped to the side just enough to allow the door to crack open.

Waverly poked her head into the slightly open door. She looked at her sister, then to Nicole, and gave a smile. “So I got some good stuff from some of the stores. I put everything in the truck. What’s the plan now?”

Wynonna cleared her throat and gave a shake of her head before motioning to Nicole “Why don’t you ask bossy pants over here.”

Nicole glanced at Wynonna with annoyance before focusing back on Waverly with a soft smile “I think one of us should stay up here as lookout while two of us try and push forward a bit. I would really like to get some sort of listening device as close to their colony as possible to see if we can pick up on anything useful.”

“How do you intend to do that?” Wynonna motioned toward the factory in the distance and gave a shrug. “They have scouts everywhere.”

“I’ll figure it out” Nicole shifted her eyes back to Wynonna and gave a casual shrug. “If we have one person up here watching their movements we should be able to move closer as the scouts shift.”

Wynonna opened her mouth to argue but stopped because it was a good plan. She glanced at Waverly who was watching her to see if she would cooperate with Nicole. She then gave a sigh and looked back to Nicole. She needed to put her ego aside and fight for humanity. She just hated that it had taken a complete stranger to convince her that it could be done. She finally gave in with a nod and motioned to Nicole with a flick of her hand “Fine. How’s this going to work?”

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

“Angel pants to bacon doughnut. Can you hear me?” Waverly smirked as she mumbled into the walkie talkie they had taken from the police station in order to be able to communicate during the mission they were now on.

“Yes, Waverly, I can still hear you” Wynonna’s laugh came through the speaker now.

“What do you see?” Waverly asked softly.

“A group of zombies with guns are about two clicks to the West of you two” Wynonna mumbled through the speaker.

“Two clicks?” Waverly arched an eyebrow and glanced at Nicole with a shrug. “How far is two clicks?”

“I have no idea. I’ve just always wanted to say that” Wynonna smirked to herself because she thought she was hilarious.

“Will you take this seriously?” Waverly rolled her eyes and gave a shake of her head.

“Fine fine. They are…” There was a pause on Wynonna’s end before a sigh came “Okay there’s an opening in the trees where they are gathered. Maybe a half a mile from where you are.”

“Heard” Waverly gave a nod then looked up to Nicole. That is when she noticed the woman was no longer there. She gave a frown and started to look around their vicinity. They were currently in a thick grove of trees, huddled near some heavy brush at the base of the trunks, so the visibility wasn’t great. That was good for any oncoming threats but not good if the two of them got separated. She let out a sigh when she couldn’t see Nicole and hissed out a whispered call “Nicole? Nicole where did you go?”

When there was no response Waverly sighed. She pushed herself out of the brush into a slightly more open area. There were still trees in every direction but she could at least see around her a little better. She turned in an entire circle in search of the other woman. When she again didn’t see anything she called just a little louder “Nicole?”

There was a rustling to her left. She whirled in that direction and clutched the walkie talkie in her hand tightly. She used her free hand to slowly reach for the machete she had on her as she took a single step toward the sound. She stared in that direction and waited for another sound. When nothing else came she cleared her throat and spoke again “I’m heavily armed and have backup so you better- AH!” She screamed as the bushes rustled again before a rabbit hopped out into view.

“Oh” She let out a soft laugh when she saw that she was not in danger. She smiled at the little animal and took another step toward it. “You scared the shit out of me. I thought you were a zombie.” She knew she should probably kill the rabbit and save it’s organs and blood for hunting but she also knew they were closer to the zombie factory than they had ever been so she was sure the scent would be picked up quickly and give away their position. So for now she let it live.

“Nicole?” She called out again as her focus returned to her surroundings. She was starting to get nervous about being alone. It had only been a minute or two but it felt like forever. When she again got no response she opened her mouth to yell out a little louder figuring the woman had wandered further from her than she had meant to.

She was stopped by a hand sliding over her mouth from behind. This made her nearly jump out of her skin in fright. She immediately bit down on the hand in an attempt to flee. The bite did not work and the hand stayed tightly over her mouth.

“Shhhhh” Nicole hissed against her ear softly. Her free hand came to rest on Waverly’s waist and she gave a very light squeeze to try and calm the girl down. She knew she had just startled her. “They’re close.”

Waverly’s stiffened posture softened once she realized that it was Nicole who had grabbed her. She gave a nod against the hand over her mouth then turned her head to look at the woman. She saw intensity in Nicole’s eyes as the woman focused on their surroundings and it sent a shiver through her. As cold as Nicole came off the night before there was something about the look in her eyes that told Waverly the girl was capable of deep and complex emotions.

Nicole slowly took her hand away from Waverly now. Her eyes dropped and that’s when she saw Waverly watching her. Her focus faltered for just a moment to give way to a softened gaze upon the shorter woman. Then she heard a sound in the distance and her focus returned as she looked in that direction. She lifted a finger to her lips to indicate that Waverly needed to be quiet.

Waverly felt her heart flutter in the split second that Nicole’s eyes softened on her. She barely knew the woman but it was like she could already read her thoughts. She had seen in that brief moment a fondness for herself in Nicole’s eyes and she wasn’t really sure how to process it.

She didn’t have time to do so at the moment anyway. Nicole was quickly grabbing the walkie talkie from Waverly and turning the dial to the off position. She then motioned for her to follow before she led them back to their original stakeout spot in the thick brush at the base of numerous trees. Once they were back inside their hideaway Nicole took hold of Waverly’s hand and drew her attention to her. When their eyes met it was easy to see her sharp focus had returned and she spoke evenly but sternly “I’m going to hoist you up into the trees. Don’t make a sound.”

“What about you?” Waverly whispered with concern in her tone.

“There are only three of them. I’ll be okay. But if something happens to me…” Nicole gave a shake of her head and fixed a look on Waverly that told her just how serious following her instructions were. “Wait until they’re gone. Do not turn on that walkie until you can’t hear them anymore. Call for Wynonna to come get you. Whatever you do…” She breathed out a heavy sigh and again her focus wavered for a moment to show the slightest bit of genuine concern before she blinked it away “...Do not try and help me. Stay put.”

“What about-” Waverly was cut off when Nicole put her hand over her mouth again.

Nicole motioned upwards and pointed to a spot where the branches were thickest about fifteen feet up. “Sit there where there’s plenty of support and wait, okay?”

Waverly gave a nod. She then turned and grabbed hold of the lowest branches of the tree. With Nicole’s help she was able to quickly climb to the spot and secure herself. Her eyes shifted and looked out from where she was so she could see the three zombies that Nicole had heard approaching. She looked down to where Nicole was crouching at the base of the tree and pointed in the direction of the zombies.

Nicole gave one affirmative nod then focused her eyes in that direction. She waited. She closed her eyes and she listened and she waited for the right moment. This is what she had trained for. She was completely calm as she stayed crouched and focused all of her energy into tracking the movements of the oncoming zombies.

Suddenly she sprung into action. She launched herself out of her crouching position, through the thick cover she had been hiding behind, and landed right behind the three. As her feet hit the cold ground with a thud she reached back and drew her katana from the sheath. With a few quick swipes of her arms, one to the left and the other to the right, she had easily sliced off the tops of two of the zombies’ heads before they even knew she was there. 

As the third zombie whirled around and attempted to draw his weapon Nicole lunged forward and took hold of his arm. When he swung his other arm in an attempt to punch her she brought her right forearm up and blocked it away without blinking. She then pulled the arm she had a hold of forward as she lifted her knee up and into his stomach. This caused him to hunch over in pain and put him in exactly the position that Nicole wanted him in.

After sliding her weapon back into place she stepped over his back so she was straddling him and wrapped her right arm around his neck, putting him in a tight headlock. She leaned into his ear now and spoke in a low growl “I have a message for your boss. You tell him if he surrenders without a fight, he and the rest of you will be taken into custody peacefully.”

“He’ll kill you” The zombie choked out the best he could with how tightly Nicole’s arm was around his throat.

“Not a chance in Hell” Nicole whispered against his ear. She then slid her arm off his neck and used her hand to forcefully slam his head into the frozen ground below, splitting his forehead open which immediately started to bleed. She then moved so she was no longer over him. She kicked him right in the ribs, sending him rolling to the side, before she bent over and scooped up the gun he had dropped. 

The zombie scrambled to his feet. He lifted his hand to his forehead and glared at Nicole angrily “You’ll pay for this. We outnumber you ten to one. You don’t stand a chance.”

Nicole didn’t even acknowledge him. She instead moved a few parts on the gun, as if inspecting it, before she cocked it and pointed it at him. She gave him a cocky smirk as her shoulders flicked into a shrug “I like those odds. Now get out of here before I decide I want to kill you and deliver the message myself.”

Although the zombie could not be killed with the gun there was still fear in his eyes. He knew she had a sharp sword that had sliced his two friends’ brains right in half. He also could tell if he lunged at her in an attempt to eat her she would easily overpower him. So instead he backed away and gave his head a warning shake “You fucked with the wrong group of zombies.”

Nicole again seemed unphased as the zombie turned and ran off. She watched him go, listening to his movements as he went, until she was sure he was out of range. She then moved back to the base of the trees where Waverly was hidden and motioned with her hand for her to go ahead and come down.

“That was…” Waverly breathed out in excitement and awe once she had descended enough to be within earshot “...wow.” She let out a soft laugh and shook her head as the image of Nicole straight up manhandling that zombie played through her mind again. She had a feeling she would be replaying that image over and over again.

Nicole laughed very softly as her arms reached up toward Waverly. She waited for the girl to be within reach before grabbing ahold of her hips and helping her slowly lower herself safely to the ground “I told you I’m trained for this.”

The touch to her hips from Nicole sent another shiver through Waverly. That was a peculiar sensation to her. She was not really sure what it meant. She knew for sure she had enjoyed watching Nicole kick ass. Other than that the rest of the feelings racing through her at the moment were ones she did not understand. She tried to shake those thoughts away as her feet came back down to earth and she turned around to face Nicole. When she did so she realized they were nearly chest to chest in the tight confines of the thick brush at the base of the trees. This caused her entire body to light up in a heated blush. She blinked once but stood unable to gather herself enough to do much more than that.

“Are you alright?” Nicole asked gently when she saw Waverly looking a little dazed as she settled back on the ground. She eyed the girl up and down once and shook her head. She seemed a little uncomfortable. Had her actions scared Waverly?

“Fine. I’m totally fine” Waverly managed to mumble out as she once more blinked in an attempt to refocus herself. She drew in a deep breath and lifted her eyes to find Nicole’s concerned gaze on her. This once more sent an unfamiliar sensation buzzing through her. It was all too much and she forced herself to look away as she took a step to the side “I am going to call Wynonna on the radio and update her.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Nicole’s tone was still soft. It wasn’t as noncommittal as it had been when talking to Wynonna earlier. This time her tone held a sincerity. She actually felt something other than indifference toward Waverly. That was new to her because she wasn’t used to feeling anything more than dedication to her duty of saving people. She tried to shake off the thought as she motioned behind her “You know I’d never hurt you, right?”

Waverly almost laughed at the words. The idea that Nicole, a heroic stranger with rippling muscles and no fear, would ever hurt her was ridiculous to her. She shook her head at the woman and gave her a gentle smile, “I’m not afraid of you.” She motioned toward where Nicole had just taken out three zombies and nodded “That doesn’t terrify me. I’ve been surrounded by death my entire life, Nicole.”

“Oh” Nicole breathed out with a nod. Then her eyebrows curled into a confused frown and she motioned toward the tree just a few inches from where she stood “You just seemed…” She stiffened up a bit to mimic Waverly’s posture when she had come out of the tree then shrugged at it “I thought I’d scared you.”

“That didn’t scare me” Waverly repeated softly. She let her eyes linger on the woman for just a moment because, well, she was kind of a sight to behold. Nicole was not overly large but she carried such a strength about her and seeing it in action, especially knowing what her arms looked like under that large coat, did something to Waverly she was having a hard time pinpointing. 

Nicole blinked in confusion again and looked down over herself when she saw Waverly staring at her. After a quick glance she looked back at her and shrugged “What?”

“Nothing” Waverly rambled off quickly. Her eyes went wide as she realized she had been blatantly staring at the woman. She pointed at her then turned around “You have blood on your coat again.” As she turned she let out a heavy breath to steady herself. She then reached for the walkie talkie she had and turned it back on. She took a few steps away from Nicole before she pressed the button to speak into it “Wynonna, can you hear me?”

“For fucks sake!” Wynonna yelled into the speaker. “I have been shitting myself up here wondering where you two went! What the Hell happened?”

“Sorry. Three of them came right at us. I turned off the radio so they wouldn’t hear us if you spoke. But it’s okay…” Waverly turned and glanced at Nicole. She gave her a soft smile then nodded at the radio “We are going to head back.”

“Don’t you ever fucking do that to me ever again, babygirl” There was audible relief in Wynonna’s voice now. “Warn me somehow next time.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry” Waverly could only imagine how worried her sister had been so she wasn’t annoyed that she was upset. She would probably have gone crazy herself and rushed right over to them without knowing what was happening if the situation were reversed.

“Get your asses back here” Wynonna grumbled into the radio. “I’ll keep a lookout in case there are any stray zombies but it looks like they are staying in a pretty organized area.”

“We’re on the way” Waverly repeated then put the radio back into her pocket. She then pushed through the thick brush and waited for Nicole to follow. Once they were back on a path they could work through they slowly and carefully started to weave their way along the trees back toward town.

The two of them walked in relative silence together. Nicole had told Waverly to keep the talking to a minimum while they were in the woods before they had headed out. So until they reached the downtown area that was far more open and allowed Wynonna to be able to see them clearly they would stay quiet just in case. The trees were so thick it would be easy for a zombie to go undetected by the telescope in the bell tower.

Even though it was quiet around them Waverly’s head was full of noise. She had so many thoughts running through her that she was having a hard time focusing on just one. She had never anticipated that meeting another person would come with so much extra work. With Wynonna it was easy. She knew how she felt, she knew how her sister thought, and there was no confusion. They worked well together and could always figure each other out. Even on moody days where they argued it hadn’t ever been this much work to figure out what was going on. Now, though, Waverly was feeling and thinking so many new things that she felt a little unstable. She wondered if that was normal for all new interactions or if it specifically had to do with the fact that she had never met anyone else in her life. She wanted to ask Wynonna but she was sure her sister didn’t know either. She wondered, though, if her sister was feeling all the same confusing things about Nicole that she was. 

Her thoughts were broken up by the relief that flooded through her as they broke out of the tree line and headed back into town. She felt safe with Nicole, especially after seeing her in action a few times, but that did not mean she didn’t miss the comfort of being near her sister. Even if Wynonna had coddled her most of their lives, and it had annoyed her, that did not mean she didn’t appreciate it. So being within just a block or two of that safety put her at ease.

She glanced up at Nicole and saw the razor sharp focus in her eyes again. This brought a smile to her lips. She liked the idea that this stranger was so intent on keeping her safe. Sure, she was trying not to die herself but in doing so that meant she was protecting Waverly at the same time and that was nice. She wasn’t sure there were a lot of strangers out there that would risk their life to save someone they barely knew. She liked that Nicole was willing to do so, even if that was what she was trained to do.

“Can I ask you something?” She finally broke the silence that had been sitting between them on their journey back to town.

Nicole glanced at Waverly when she spoke. She had honestly thought they were just going to walk all the way back in silence. Not that she would have minded. She was used to silence. But she was curious about what Waverly had in mind and she gave her a nod “You know you can.”

“Why did you let that last zombie go?” Waverly breathed out with a shrug. “Wouldn’t it have been better to sneak attack them? I mean, Bobo knows that you’re here now and that we’re planning on taking them out. Isn’t that a little counterintuitive?”

A slight smirk lifted onto Nicole’s lips at the question. She lifted her eyes up toward the bell tower they were now approaching and just gave her head a shake “I planted a bug on him.”

Waverly’s eyelids fluttered in surprise. She paused in her tracks and stared up at Nicole in awe. She then realized she had stopped and quickly moved to catch up to Nicole who had not stopped, laughing as she did “That was sneaky!”

Nicole glanced down at Waverly and gave her a little wink. She then reached for the door to the church and pulled it open for her. She waited for Waverly to go inside before she followed behind. She pulled the door closed tightly and slid the metal pole they used as a locking mechanism into place before turning and giving Waverly a nod “Someone within their colony is bound to panic now. Even if Bobo isn’t threatened I know someone will be. That will spread like a virus through the colony.” She gave a casual shrug and brushed her hands together as if dusting them off “We just have to wait until one of them slips up. Until then we can at least have an ear on their movements.”

“What if that zombie isn’t one that is around Bobo a lot?” Waverly was completely enthralled by Nicole’s plan. She was staring at the woman in awe. Her abilities were just amazing in her eyes.

“Any information we can get from the inside is good information. We don’t necessarily need to know everything” Nicole just shrugged then moved over toward where Waverly had taken a seat in one of the pews. She crouched down in front of her and spoke very gently as her eyes settled on her with that tenderness that she had shown earlier. “Trust me. This is going to work.”

Waverly shuttered at the way Nicole was looking into her eyes. There was that glint of genuine human concern for her again and it was absolutely unnerving her in a way that Waverly wasn’t sure how to handle. She felt her breath hitch in her throat. She had no idea why Nicole caring about her was affecting her so much. She needed to figure it out soon, though, because it was making it hard to focus on anything else.

“Thanks for telling me you were back, dickwads!” Wynonna shouted as she kicked her way through the door that led to the stairs of the bell tower. She stormed over to the other two with an annoyed scowl on her face before fixing her hands on her hips “This radio silence bullshit is causing grey hairs” She motioned feverishly at her hair, where there was not a grey to be seen, before she huffed out again.

“We just walked in” Waverly cleared her throat and scooted away from the end of the pew where she had been sitting. She motioned to Nicole then to Wynonna before shrugging “Besides I thought you would have seen us coming.”

“I did” Wynonna rolled her eyes in a way that showed her sister that wasn’t the point. “But you didn’t come get me.”

“And yet here you are” Nicole motioned to Wynonna as she stood from where she had been crouching down. She gave a little shake of her head before she moved past Wynonna toward the door to the bell tower.

“Where are you going?” Wynonna whirled around to watch Nicole’s movements.

“To get my backpack” Nicole pointed toward the door then arched an eyebrow slightly at Wynonna “Is that alright with you or do you want me to radio you when I reach the top?”

Wynonna let out an offended sounding snort and lifted her hand to flip Nicole off.

“Thank you for your permission” Nicole gave a sarcastic bow then turned and headed for the door. She let it slam behind her before stomping up each stair harder than necessary.

Wynonna whirled around and flung her arm in the direction of the door before giving a huff at her sister “You see that right there? Her attitude and arrogance and the way she thinks she knows everything? It’s so-”

“Familiar?” Waverly cut her sister off as she stood from the pew. She moved over to Wynonna and gave her head a little shake “Because what you just described sounds exactly like you. Except she’s actually trying to help instead of pushing everyone else away.”

Wynonna audibly gasped at her sister’s words. She stared at her completely offended for a few long moments before she was able to blink at her. Her head gave a half shake and she grunted out weakly “I’m trying to help!”

“By fighting every step of the way” Waverly shook her head as she moved toward one of the cabinets in the church. They stored bits of food and water there while they were on stakeouts so they didn’t have to go back to the Homestead for long periods of time. She opened one of the doors and pulled out a water bottle. She took a drink from it before turning now to look at her sister who still looked offended by her words. She let out a sigh and motioned to the door to the bell tower “She has a really good plan and I’m not saying it’s any better or worse than anything you’ve come up with. I’m saying it’s different so what is the harm in just going with it for now?”

“I have no idea what I’ve said today that indicated I was fighting this” Wynonna threw her hands in the air out of frustration now. “I listened to her plan. I stayed here and allowed you two to go off alone. I sat here…” She let out a defeated sounding sigh now as she motioned toward her feet as a way of indicating where she had been all day “...I sat here terrified you were dead when I didn’t hear back from you over the radio, Waves. Excuse me for being just a little high strung for a few minutes.”

Waverly’s face fell into a frown now. She moved slowly toward her sister and once within reach she put a hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry about that. I get it. I would have been sick with worry if the roles had been reversed.”

“See?” Wynonna shrugged and let out an exasperated breath. “I thought I’d lost you. I can’t…” Her head shook and try as she might to fight off her emotions she lost the battle. Her eyes welled with tears and she blinked quickly to try and push them down. That didn’t work and one tear escaped, sliding down her cheek, as her eyes bore into her sister’s gaze “I can’t fucking lose you, Waverly. So I will go along with whatever plan she has but not at the cost of risking your life. Do you hear me?”

“I know” Waverly was fighting her own emotions as her hand lifted to wipe the tear off her sister’s cheek. She knew Wynonna loved her. She had never doubted it for a moment. But Wynonna was so good at keeping her emotions close to her chest that seeing her expressing them now was overwhelming. She knew it meant that her sister had been terrified and that nearly broke Waverly’s heart in two. “I’ll warn you next time, okay?”

“That’s all I ask” Wynonna cleared her throat and wiped her hand quickly over her face to sweep away another stray tear.

“But you have to know…” Waverly cupped Wynonna’s face between both her hands now and held her there so she could look right into her eyes. She spoke softly but firmly, “I’m safe with her, Wynonna. The things she can do are….” Her head shook as an impressed smile flickered over her lips “...incredible. She wasn’t kidding when she said she’s trained to do this.”

“Yeah, well, I might not be G.I. Ninja Jane but I’ve kept you alive thus far, too” Wynonna rolled her eyes at her sister as she stepped away from her and out of her hands. Maybe it was an ego thing but she hated the thought of anyone else keeping her sister safe. That was her job. That was the only reason she was alive. If someone else could do her job then what was the point of living anymore. Her head shook the thought away and she reached for the water bottle that Waverly had set near them. She grabbed it and took a sip before giving a shrug “Don’t forget I have the magic gun that’s saved your life more times than Ginger Jubliee.”

“You went through my stuff??” Nicole came storming out of the bell tower door with her backpack hanging open in her hand.

Wynonna’s eyes went wide as she saw a very angry looking Nicole rushing at her. She lifted her hands in a gesture to try and slow her down as a laugh left her lips “Hey man you left it behind and I got bored!”

“I know that common courtesy is pretty much a thing of the past but I think it was implied in this situation” Nicole barked as she drew within inches of Wynonna. Her chest puffed out and she used the small bit of height she had on the woman to try and stand over her in an act of intimidation “You have no respect for anyone but yourself!”

“What are you hiding?” Wynonna motioned to the backpack but did not back down. Instead she put a hand on Nicole’s chest near her collarbone and gave a shove.

“I am not hiding anything!” Nicole tossed her bag down and used that hand to wrap around Wynonna’s throat tightly. “I am so sick of you-”

“Woah, hey!” Waverly stepped between the other two now. She grabbed ahold of Nicole’s arm and gave a tug in an attempt to free her sister. “Nicole, stop! Don’t hurt her!”

Waverly’s voice seemed to snap Nicole back into herself. She looked horrified at her actions when her hand opened and she released Wynonna’s neck. She blinked once and looked at her hand before her eyes focused on the smaller girl. She shook her head and let out a heavy sigh “I’m sorry I didn’t mean to snap.”

“I swear to god if you manhandle me ever again I will paint the walls red with your brains” Wynonna growled and shoved Nicole backwards now that her attention was on Waverly. 

This caught Nicole completely off guard, since she had been focusing elsewhere, and she stumbled back a few steps. The back of her calf hit the low arm rest of the pew and she tumbled with all of her weight into it. Her head hit the top edge of the pew in front of the one she fell into with a sickening crack.

“Oh my god!” Waverly gasped and immediately rushed over to Nicole. She carefully climbed over the back of the pew Nicole had hit her head on and brought herself to her knees beside her. She cradled Nicole’s head in her lap and gave her a light tap on her cheek “Nicole, are you okay?” When she didn’t get a response she leaned down and listened for breathing. It was shallow but it was there. She looked up at her sister now in horror “What is wrong with you? We are on the same team!”

“She started it!” Wynonna motioned to her throat that was already bruising.

“I’m serious!” Waverly could feel herself tearing up as she tapped more frantically against Nicole’s face. “Come on, Nicole, wake up. You gotta wake up.” She shifted the fallen woman’s head further up her lap and that is when she felt the blood. She brought her hand up and when she saw the shiny red on her fingers her eyes got wider “Oh my god, Wynonna! She’s bleeding.”

“Oh shit” Wynonna hissed and rushed over to their little storage cabinet. She knew they had first aid supplies in there and she scrambled to find them. Once she had a handful of gauze she rushed over to her sister and handed them over “I’m sorry, Waves. I didn’t mean to hurt her. I was pissed. She threatened me. She put her hands on me.”

“I swear to god, Wynonna. If you two don’t stop butting heads I’m-”

Waverly was cut off by Nicole drawing in a gasping breath as her eyes shot open. She looked a little dazed and confused for a second before her eyes settled on Waverly above her. A flicker of a smile came to her lips when she saw the girl before the pain hit her. She groaned and her hand reached to the spot on the back of her head that was bleeding. She drew her hand forward and scowled at the blood she saw “Fuck.”

“Oh my god are you okay?” Waverly breathed out a sigh of relief when she saw Nicole wake up. She wiped a tear from her cheek and kept Nicole’s head in her lap.

“Well that fucking hurt” Nicole grumbled as she tried to sit up.

“No, hey, you just hit your head you should-”

Nicole ignored Waverly and sat up with a groan. She touched the bloody spot on the back of her head again and brought her fingers forward to inspect them. She frowned at what she saw then looked at Wynonna with a shake of her head “As you can see, my blood is clearly red which means I’m human and not whatever you think I am because your gun turned white. Are you satisfied?”

“I didn’t mean-” Wynonna let out a sigh and shook her head quickly. She motioned to her throat then to Nicole with the same hand and sighed “Fight or flight, man. I was just protecting myself.”

Nicole shook her head and touched the gash once more. She let out a sigh and started to get to her feet. “I’m sorry I came at you. I get like that sometimes.”

Wynonna motioned to Nicole but looked around her to where Waverly sat behind her still “I was wrong. She’s not an X-Men, she’s obviously The Hulk.”

“Will you shut up?” Waverly growled and slid to the end of the pew. She stood on it, causing her to now tower above the other two, and folded her arms over her chest. She scowled at both of them and gave a shrug “I am not going to put up with the two of you constantly being violent toward one another. We have an army of zombies to take our anger out on.”

“You’re right” Wynonna lifted her hands in a sign of surrender as she stepped backwards. “I promise to only threaten violence from now on.”

“I’m serious, Wynonna” Waverly hissed as her eyes narrowed on her sister. “No more bickering! No more shoving! We are a team whether you like it or not.”

“Okay, you’re right, babygirl” Wynonna’s tone was much more serious now. She let out a sad sounding sigh and nodded at Nicole “As long as she doesn’t come at me I’ll keep my hands to myself.”

“Sorry, Waverly” Nicole mumbled. Her eyes flickered between the sisters and when it looked like they were both waiting for something more from her she just shrugged “If I don’t get angry it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“What does that mean?” Waverly perked an eyebrow at that.

“It’s…” Nicole waved it off as she moved toward where she had dropped her backpack earlier. She leaned down to scoop it up before digging inside it. Once she found what she was looking for she pulled it out. When she looked up at the girls again and saw they were still waiting on her to explain she just sighed “...a long story. I’ll tell you later, I promise.” She set what she had fished out of her bag on the top of one of the pews. It was a thin box that looked almost like an old radio with a speaker and a few dials. She clicked one of the dials on and was immediately met with static. Her brow furrowed as she focused on what she was doing, her fingers working the dials back and forth, and after a moment the voice of a man they didn’t know came from the box.

Both sisters turned their attention to the box with wide eyes. Wynonna stepped toward Nicole and motioned to the box “Who was that?”

Nicole smiled proudly and gave a nod to the little box she was holding in place on top of the pew. “This is our secret weapon.”

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.


	5. Now would be a really bad time to start lying to us, Haught.

“So what’s the range on this thing?” Wynonna actually looked impressed after learning that Nicole had planted a bug on one of the zombies.

“Twenty miles or so” Nicole shrugged as her eyes focused on the small speaker box. “Obviously the closer we are, the better the reception but I don’t see any reason why we couldn’t take it back with us to your house at night.”

Wynonna gave a shake of her head and moved closer to Nicole. She reached her hand out and gave a sincere nod of her head as she locked her eyes on the woman “I gotta hand it to you, man. This was smart.”

“Thanks” Nicole gave a very brief sideways smile and took the offered handshake from Wynonna. There was a blink of a moment where the two looked at each other with mutual respect as their hands shook. Then they broke away from each other, looked away, and that moment was gone.

Waverly smiled almost proudly as she watched the two shake hands. It was the first time she believed that they might actually be able to work together. Not wanting to mention it and make that potential die she quickly changed the subject and motioned to the speaker “So what are we listening for exactly?”

“Anything” Nicole shrugged again as she picked up the speaker. There was a constant droning of voices coming out of it indicating the zombie she had bugged was potentially always surrounded. “It’s good that there are a lot of voices” She motioned to the speaker with a nod “Gives us higher odds of hearing something that could help.”

“Like what?” Wynonna chimed in as she moved to settle on one of the pews across from where Waverly sat.

“Any mention of movement” Nicole offered with a shrug. “Anything that sounds like they might be planning an attack. Pretty much anything that gives us an inside look into what is going on in there.”

“What do we do until then?” Wynonna’s eyes were on the box. She was listening to the chatter while at the same time listening to Nicole. Who knew she had the ability to multitask like that.

“Carry on as usual” Nicole rolled her eyes at that because she thought that was pretty obvious. “Continue to use the telescope to watch their movements. Continue to move forward into their scouting area to see if we can find any sort of entrance into the factory. Hunt and kill any zombies we come across.”

“I think we should call it a day for now “ Waverly spoke up with a little smile. She glanced between the other two and when they looked at her curiously she shrugged. “It’s been a long day. We spent hours in the woods before coming back here. Now we have a bug and two more dead zombies?” She motioned toward Nicole with a nod “You should probably lay down and let me patch up the back of your head. So why not head back to the Homestead, get some food, and relax for a little while?”

“My head is fine” Nicole shrugged it off as her hand reached back to touch at the spot where she had landed against the pew.

“She’s right” Wynonna stood now and gave a nod. 

This seemed to surprise both women. Wynonna loved to hunt and kill and there was still a lot of daylight left. If anyone was going to argue they thought it would have been Wynonna.

When she saw both of the girls look at her in surprise, Wynonna rolled her eyes and motioned behind herself “We got an early start and we’ve already had a run in with a few zombies. We sent a message back to Bobo so I am sure he’s probably deciding what to do next. I doubt any more scouts will be allowed too far from the factory for the rest of the day.”

Waverly nodded because that made sense. She was glad her sister was not fighting her idea of going back home and just relaxing.

“Or” Wynonna shrugged as she motioned around where they stood before looking back to the others “He gets pissed and sends out a huge horde. If that’s the case, I do not want to be trapped here.” 

“It’s smart to retreat to safety” Nicole agreed as she moved toward where she had dropped her backpack after fishing out the speaker. She zipped it up and slid it over her back before turning to look at the sisters “Let’s not hang out here much longer, then.”

Waverly quickly got to her feet with a smile on her lips. She rushed over to the cabinets where they stored the supplies they needed while on stakeouts and quickly packed them up. They didn’t want to leave them behind just in case the zombies came through there. It would give away the fact that they used the church frequently.

Wynonna moved across the church and locked the door to the bell tower. Sure, if the zombies wanted to break in they could but having a lock in place could also make the zombies believe that no one had been in the bell tower for years. She wasn’t sure how smart they were and the lock had worked thus far, so why not just stick with it.

Once everything was packed up the girls headed to the truck. They parked a few blocks away so as not to give away their position. It was a short walk and soon they were all inside and headed back toward the Homestead. Waverly glanced out the back window at Nicole who was once more riding in the bed of the truck. She then looked back at her sister and gave a shake of her head “You know she could fit up front with us, right?”

Wynonna glanced at Nicole in her rear view mirror and just shrugged. She then looked over at Waverly and gave her a smile “But I then couldn’t talk trash about her if she rode up here.”

“You and I both know that wouldn’t stop you” Waverly rolled her eyes and gave a little laugh. Sometimes her sister drove her crazy but she definitely appreciated that no matter what she still somehow always had her sense of humor intact.

Wynonna smirked when she heard her sister laugh. She glanced at her briefly then looked back at the road. She took a moment to appreciate the fact that her sister was alive. She had been scared shitless that she had lost her when the radio had gone silent. She would have to make sure she reminded Waverly just how much she meant to her. 

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Nicole looked up when she heard a soft knock on the door of the room she had been given at the Homestead. The door was not closed so it surprised her to hear a knock. When she looked up and saw Waverly standing in the doorway she smiled very slightly and motioned for her to come in.

Waverly bit her lip almost nervously as she approached Nicole. She had her hands tucked behind her back as she eyed the other woman up and down slowly. She was not sure how Nicole would react to what she had come there to do. “So…”

“My head is fine” Nicole laughed as she watched Waverly approaching her like a kid hiding a puppy behind her back.

Waverly frowned but let out an amused laugh as she brought her hands forward now to reveal the first aid kit she had been holding out of sight “How did you know?”

“I heard you cursing to yourself while you dug through the closet to find it” Nicole motioned behind Waverly toward the door she had just entered through.

Waverly glanced behind herself then shrugged and looked back to Nicole with a sheepish smile “I suppose that was not very subtle was it?”

Nicole chuckled softly and shook her head. She shifted on the bed where she sat, effectively making room for Waverly next to her, and gave a flick of her hand to motion for her to come closer.

Waverly’s face lit up with a bit of relief when she saw Nicole seemed to be inviting her to come take a look at her head even though she was insisting it was fine. She eyed Nicole over once and felt a little flutter in her stomach at what she saw. Nicole had shed her large trenchcoat and the tshirt she wore now did nothing to hide her larger than average arms. She really was an absolutely stunning specimen of pure human strength.

Nicole barely noticed. She had already been turning so her back was toward Waverly to allow the girl to have access to her head.

Realizing Nicole had shifted once more Waverly quickly nodded her head. She rushed over and sat down next to the woman. “I really appreciate you letting me take a look. I know you think it’s okay but I take any blow to the head very seriously.” She set the first aid kit near her leg on the bed then reached for Nicole’s head “Besides, it could easily get infected and then you could get really sick.”

“I’m not worried about that” Nicole mumbled as she reached her hand back to help move her hair out of the way so Waverly could see better. Her hair wasn’t even shoulder length so there was not a lot of hair to get through. But she thought she would help anyway. 

“You don’t have to act tough all the time” Waverly laughed out softly as her hand lifted and she tried to dig through the short strands of red hair that Nicole had not already swept aside.

“I’m not acting” Nicole stated plainly. “I don’t lie. Honesty is the best way to ensure we all get through this. The last thing you want to do is restart humanity with a group of liars.”

Waverly perked an eyebrow at how blunt Nicole had just been. She couldn’t say she disagreed, though. So she just nodded at the words as her fingers carefully combed through Nicole’s hair that was stuck together with dried blood “I guess I never thought of it that way.”

“Most people don’t” Nicole shrugged her shoulders at that. “There is no way to guarantee that the people we save will always be honest, or even be good, but we hope that by starting out honestly it will help set the tone.”

“We?” Waverly asked softly as she finally found the spot where Nicole had hit her head.

“X-Division” Nicole gave a nod. “Maybe there are other groups doing what we are doing, I don't know. All I’ve ever really known is X-Division. They’re in charge of how everything runs in The Garden."

Waverly nodded and gave a hum to show she was listening as she searched through dried blood for a gash.

Nicole’s shoulders lifted in a shrug and she kept talking since Waverly hadn't replied, “I think it’s a reference to The Garden of Eden. That’s where the day to day life stuff happens. There are houses and schools and buildings where people go to work. It’s controlled and organized but there are some days when it feels like how I imagine it used to be before all of this.”

“Sounds nice” Waverly admitted with a shrug. Her finger swept over the surface of the gash on Nicole’s head once she found it. She frowned a little when the girl didn’t even flinch. Her head shook and her breath came out with a tremble “Nicole, can you feel that?”

“Of course I can” Nicole’s tone was all business as she answered.

“It doesn’t hurt?” Waverly poked the spot again.

“No” Nicole’s head flicked in a very slight shake.

“It’s…” Waverly breathed out again as she leaned in a little closer to inspect it. She stared at it in silence for a few moments before a soft huff of disbelief slipped from her lips. “It looks like it’s healing already.”

Nicole just nodded.

Waverly’s hands pulled back from Nicole’s head completely. She stared at the back of her head with a mix of shock and horror on her face. Then after a few moments she coughed out an unamused laugh and shook her head, “What is going on, Nicole?”

Nicole slowly turned around to look at Waverly. When she saw the look on the girl’s face she quickly flicked her head in a slight shake “You don’t have to be afraid. I’ll explain everything.”

“Explain?” Waverly blinked in surprise at that. Her face twisted in thought as she tried to process what was happening. She then jerked her head back and forth and stood from the bed. She looked at Nicole with a scared confusion “What is there to explain?”

“Calm down” Nicole’s hand lifted in a gesture to try and get Waverly to just take a breath. She stood very slowly, because she could tell Waverly was spooked, and she gave a very slow nod. “Let’s go find Wynonna so there are no secrets.”

“Secrets?” Waverly’s voice rose an octave and she backed up a step when Nicole stood. She was more than confused and it showed on her face. “What is happening?”

“Just calm down. I told you I’d-”

“WYNONNA!” Waverly screamed as she backed away until her back hit the wall near the door. She had not taken her wide eyed stare off of Nicole since the woman had stood from the bed.

“Waverly, calm down. There is nothing to be-”

“WYNONNA!” Waverly’s voice screeched out again.

Nicole let out a sigh and shook her head as she looked at the terrified woman “Please, stop screaming.”

“What, what, what?” Wynonna came storming into the room with Peacemaker raised and pointing this way and that. She looked panicked and her eyes flickered all around the room in an attempt to find the threat. When she couldn’t immediately see what Waverly was screaming about she quickly looked between the two woman and gave a frazzled shrug “What the Hell is going on?”

Waverly’s trembling hand lifted and she pointed it toward Nicole “She, she…” She shook her head as she tried to focus on what she was trying to say.

Wynonna didn’t seem to need a real explanation. Waverly looked terrified and she was pointing at Nicole. She moved across the room in three steps and pushed the barrel of Peacemaker sharply against Nicole’s forehead. She narrowed her eyes in a mean glare and growled through her teeth “If you hurt her, I swear to God…”

“I didn’t” Nicole lifted her hands in surrender. She looked right into Wynonna’s eyes to show she wasn’t hiding anything as she spoke, “Could everyone just take a breath and relax for a second, please?”

Wynonna blinked at the way Nicole looked at her. She could see very clearly that Nicole was trying to be honest about whatever was going on. Which meant she hadn’t done anything wrong. Now she was confused about why Waverly was screaming. With Peacemaker still pressed to Nicole’s forehead, Wynonna turned to look at her sister “What is going on?”

“She..” Waverly motioned to Nicole and just shook her head. Honestly she had no idea what was happening. She blinked a few times and pushed off the wall she had been pressed against in fear. “Her head gash is already healing, Wynonna.”

Wynonna opened her mouth to say that sounded dumb but she stopped herself. She remembered how much blood she had seen in the church. That had to mean there was a significant gash. Those sorts of gashes didn’t stop bleeding easily and yet it had. She hadn’t realized it until now because of everything else that had been happening but now that she thought about it that was strange.

Her head whipped around and she focused on Nicole now. She pushed Peacemaker more firmly against her head and spoke firmly “Explain.”

“It’s a long story and I’d really appreciate it if you’d take the barrel of your gun out of my skull, please” Nicole spoke gently to show she was not trying to argue or start a confrontation.

Wynonna hesitated for a moment. Her eyes narrowed on Nicole suspiciously and when she once again saw no indication that Nicole was being dishonest she finally let out a sigh and pulled Peacemaker away. She took a step back and used the gun now to motion to all of Nicole’s being “Start yapping and if I think for one second you’re lying I-”

“Will shoot me” Nicole motioned to the gun she held and gave a nod. “You need new material.”

“This is not the time for jokes” Wynonna growled.

“Fine” Nicole lifted her hands in surrender again. She then took a breath and looked from Wynonna to Waverly. When she saw the younger woman still looking terrified of her she felt her gut knot in guilt. This was not how she had wanted this subject to come up. She let out a heavy sigh and moved to sit on the bed before looking back at the sisters who were watching her carefully. “When I was little I was sick. Really sick. I wasn’t supposed to live past the age of five.”

It was easy to see by the reaction from both sisters that the beginning of the story had not been what either of them had expected.

“My parents were desperate to save me. They tried every experimental treatment available. They took me to see every specialist they could find. Unfortunately this particular disease is one that has no cure. It doesn’t even have a treatment…” Nicole frowned as she spoke. She could only imagine what her parents had gone through when they had learned that their kid would die early.

“Cut to the chase” Wynonna used Peacemaker to make a motion that told Nicole to move forward.

“I told you it’s a long story” Nicole rolled her eyes but quickly shook off her annoyance. “Anyway, they found a doctor that was doing controversial and, well, illegal experiments in an attempt to find a cure. They had exhausted all other options so they decided to give him a shot. What did they have to lose, right?”

Wynonna quirked an eyebrow and glanced over to her sister to see if she was buying it. Waverly still looked skeptical which was good. She didn’t want her sister to fall for some ludicrous story.

“So he gave me his experimental treatment” Nicole continued with a shrug.

“What kind of disease did you have?” Waverly asked suddenly.

“Have. I still have it” Nicole corrected her with a nod. “I have a degenerative brain disorder.”

Waverly couldn’t help but gasp because, well, it sounded terrible. She gave a shake of her head as she thought about it. She couldn’t even imagine.

“What kind of treatment?” Wynonna chimed in now with a skeptical eyebrow still arched on her forehead.

“You know how there are some animals that can regrow limbs or tails if they lose them?” Nicole wasn’t sure how much education the girls had received in their lives. They seemed well read, at least, so she hoped they had heard of such a thing.

“Like lizards?” Waverly perked an eyebrow.

“Amongst others” Nicole nodded. “Anyway, he figured out how to genetically modify human blood to regenerate like that using some newly discovered element.”

“No fucking way” Wynonna snorted out a laugh that sounded both amazed and unbelieving. 

Nicole just gave a nod “Yeah, apparently-”

“You ARE an X-Men!” Wynonna gasped out with sheer delight. She looked at her sister with a wide grin on her lips and motioned to Nicole with Peacemaker “I was right. She’s a fucking X-Men!”

“Wynonna, please” Waverly let out a tired sounding sigh. Now was definitely not the time for her jokes.

“I mean she’s kind of right” Nicole nodded and motioned to Wynonna. “The element he used was highly illegal and top secret. The only reason he knew about it was because he had been a doctor in the Army when they were trying to create super soldiers.” 

“So you’re a super soldier?” Waverly gave her head a confused shake.

“No” Nicole sighed out softly. She felt like they weren’t getting it. “I mean, technically, I guess I am.” She shrugged and shifted on the bed “Basically, many years later, in the height of all the outbreaks when X-Division was formed, they heard about my regenerative blood and brought me in to study.”

“I was so wrong. You’re not Jubilee at all” Wynonna let out a breath of a laugh. “You’re totally She-Hulk!”

“Wynonna will you shut up!” Waverly snapped with a glare at her sister. Her face then softened as she looked back at Nicole. She eyed the woman up and down carefully before giving a single nod. “How did X-Division find out about you?”

Nicole’s head dropped. She drew in a deep breath because she knew that what she had to say was not going to be easy to hear. She was worried she would be kicked out once the two of them knew the truth. Finally her eyes lifted and her head gave a single shake “I want to remind you that I meant it when I said you were safe with me.”

Wynonna lifted Peacemaker and pointed it at Nicole because she did not necessarily like that preface. “Now would be a really bad time to start lying to us, Haught.”

Nicole glanced at Wynonna and the gun she was getting used to seeing pointed at her. She let out a sigh and motioned to the woman with a flick of her arm “I am very much aware of the fact that you will shoot me if you don’t like what you hear. But I would appreciate it if you put that down and just listen to me.”

“Put it down” Waverly whispered and moved over to her sister. She put a hand on the gun and pushed until it was finally lowered. She turned to look back at Nicole and gave a little nod of her head “Just tell us.”

Nicole let out a long sigh as she finally stood from where she had been sitting on the bed. She reached for the hem of the tshirt she wore and lifted it up to expose the right side of her torso. Much like her arms her torso was marked with scars all over the place. She reached with her left hand and pointed at a cluster of scars on the outside of her ribcage about two inches below the bottom of the bra she wore. She kept her eyes focused on the sisters as her fingers ran over the distinctive scar “I was bitten trying to save my parents when I was sixteen.”

Both sisters jumped back from Nicole when they heard she had been bitten. Wynonna once more pointed Peacemaker at Nicole but her hand was a little shaky as she tried to find her aim “You son of a bitch!”

“I’m human!” Nicole dropped the hem of her shirt and lifted her hands toward the sisters in a motion of surrender again. “They don’t know exactly how but they think it has to do with my brain disorder.”

Waverly had been initially terrified but she could see the look in Nicole’s eyes now as she stammered out her explanation. She didn’t know why but she believed her. She turned now and pushed Peacemaker down again. She looked at Wynonna and gave her a nod “Let her explain.”

“Babygirl, no!” Wynonna motioned to Nicole with absolute disgust on her face. “You can’t seriously believe this! She’s a newborn trying to trick us. It’s how her blood is still red!”

“Then how am I here?” Nicole pointed to the ground she stood on. “How is my bite healed?” She motioned to her torso quickly. She tried to remain calm but she was starting to worry that Wynonna might very well shoot her. “Zombies can’t get on your land. They don’t heal once they’re bitten.” She shook her head and let out a heavy sigh “I have had many tests run on me and I can assure you I am still human.”

“She’s right!” Waverly stepped between her sister and Nicole. She put her hands on Wynonna’s shoulders to stop her from lunging at the other woman. She caught her eyes and gave her a slight nod “If she was a zombie she couldn’t be on our land.”

“I’m not a zombie” Nicole repeated her claim. “They had me bite people. None of them ever turned.”

“They had you bite people?” Waverly whirled around looking completely appalled by what she had just heard.

Nicole just gave a single nod. She knew it probably sounded weird but she had been poked, prodded, and tested for nearly ten years so it was pretty normal for her. “I told you they ran a lot of tests on me.”

“Waverly I can not believe you are buying this” Wynonna hissed as she grabbed ahold of her sister and tugged to get her attention. “I knew there was something fishy about her!”

“You were all excited when you thought she was a mutant!” Waverly whirled around to face her sister but motioned behind her toward Nicole. “That was okay with you? But now that she survived a zombie bite she is suddenly a bad guy again?”

“No one survives a zombie bite” Wynonna motioned to Nicole as well. “She’s probably just slow to turn because of her freaky radioactive blood.”

“It’s been more than ten years” Nicole corrected her softly.

“See?” Waverly gave a nod and turned to look at Nicole. She then shrugged and looked back at her sister “Ten years. I think it’s safe to say she will never turn.”

“According to the tests, I can’t” Nicole stated now as she dared to take a step toward the sisters. When her words seemed to get their attention she just shrugged “The bite of a zombie kills all brain function. My degenerative brain disorder kills the zombie virus before it can kill my brain function. My genetically modified blood keeps me alive by regenerating my brain.” She gave a single flick of her head back and forth before her hands slowly motioned toward her head “It’s like a self-sustaining system in there keeping me functioning.”

Wynonna still seemed skeptical. She had her eyes focused like a laser on Nicole. She took a moment to scan her, as if trying to see any sign of a lie, before giving her head a shake. She finally let out a heavy sigh and stepped backwards from her sister. She motioned with Peacemaker toward Nicole “It sounds like you watch too many fucking sci-fi movies.”

“I’ve actually never seen one” Nicole mumbled as her hands dropped slowly now that it seemed like Wynonna was not going to attack her. “But I can answer any questions you have.”

“So your blood is a cure?” Wynonna spat out before she realized it.

“No” Nicole’s head shook again. “There is no cure. Once the zombie virus gets to the brain you’re pretty much dead. It can’t be reversed.”

“How about immunity?” Wynonna’s eyebrows arched curiously at that. The idea of being safe from zombie bites was pretty appealing.

Again Nicole’s head gave a little shake and this time she looked almost sad about it. She drew in a deep breath as her shoulders shrugged “Apparently the doctor that modified my blood modified it specifically to my DNA, to my disorder, so it doesn’t help other people. The people that have received my blood...” Her eyes dropped to the floor and for a moment she looked ashamed. She drew in another deep breath and spoke without looking up “They die.”

Waverly bit her lip and slowly stepped toward Nicole. She laid a comforting hand on her shoulder and spoke very gently “That’s not your fault. You have to know that.”

Nicole tried to shake it off as her eyes lifted to Waverly. She put on a forced flicker of a smile and let out a sigh “I thought my blood could help so I agreed to let them take it. I had no idea those people would get so sick.”

“Sick how?” Wynonna asked.

Nicole’s eyes shifted to Wynonna and she shrugged again “Essentially it caused a rapid overgrowth of brain cells. It started with headaches and then they kind of seemed like they had the flu and then…” Another heavy sigh came from her lips and she reached a hand up to push some of her red hair off her face “...Their brainstems ruptured to make room for all the excess brain matter in their skull.”

“Holy shit” Wynonna looked completely appalled.

Waverly gasped and put a hand over her mouth as she stared in horror at what she had just heard.

Nicole just gave a nod at that. It was gruesome. She knew that. But there had been no way of knowing what the reaction to her blood would be in another person until it was tested. It had been an unfortunate thing but it had also helped the research team of X-Division know that duplicating Nicole’s immunity was not an option. So they decided to make her a weapon instead.

“That’s why they decided to train me” She shook her head and stepped away from Waverly now. She moved back toward the bed. She didn’t sit, though. Instead her eyes focused on the sheets as her fingers mindlessly ran over the frame at the foot of the bed. She wanted to look anywhere but at the other two in the room. She knew her past wasn’t her doing but she still didn’t like telling people about it. “They spent years brainwashing me and feeding me anti-zombie propaganda. They thought if they could combine my immunity and regeneration abilities with military combat training that I would be the perfect weapon in this war.”

“Brainwashing?” Waverly was barely able to whisper the word. It sounded horrific.

Nicole nodded just once. She drew in a deep breath and dared to look up now. When she was met with two pairs of concerned eyes on her she quickly looked down again. “It’s a combat tactic. Replace my own thoughts, feelings, and emotions with the idea that my sole purpose in life is to destroy zombies. Basically…” She looked up again and was greeted with a look of pity from both sisters. She shook that off as she continued “...They wanted a brainless warrior that they could control.”

“I am so sorry” Waverly rushed over to Nicole and before she could stop herself she was wrapping her arms around the woman in a tight, comforting hug. “No one deserve to go through that.”

Nicole looked surprised at the gesture from Waverly. She blinked a few times in confusion because she didn’t really know how to react. Then that part of her that was cold and emotionless melted away and she found herself wrapping her arms around the smaller girl.

“How do I know this isn’t a tactical move by X-Division to get us on your side only to take us hostage in their freaky false utopian world?” Wynonna folded her arms across herself and fixed Nicole with an untrusting glare.

“I guess you don’t” Nicole nodded honestly as she slowly stepped back out of the hug. She looked down at Waverly and gave her a grateful smile. She felt something she had never really felt before when she saw the genuine look of concern in the other woman’s eyes. She felt a sort of flutter in her stomach. It almost seemed familiar. She didn’t really have time to dwell on it, though, so she shook it off and looked back to Wynonna. “All I can say is I haven’t lied to you yet. I can promise you I am not here as some sort of Trojan horse plot to gather human slaves for the last known sustainable society in the country. Whether you choose to believe that or not is up to you.”

“I believe you” Waverly offered a smile as her hand reached down and took hold of Nicole’s gently.

Nicole looked down when she felt Waverly’s hand in hers. Again she felt that flutter. She couldn’t be sure but Waverly seemed to be triggering something inside her.

“Okay, hold your horses there, babygirl” Wynonna stepped closer and reached out to grab her sister by the arm. She gave a few firm tugs to indicate she wanted Waverly to let go of Nicole and move away from her. Her eyes stayed locked on Nicole. It was easy to see that she was having a hard time believing any of this.

“Wynonna” Waverly shook her head as she pulled her arm from her sister’s grip. “Look at her” She motioned now with that free hand toward Nicole and let out a sigh “I can just see on her face she is telling the truth.”

“That’s all well and good, Waves, but you’ve also never met a liar” Wynonna shook her head and once more tried to reach for her sister. “There’s a reason liars are easy to believe. They are good at what they do.”

“What can I do to prove it to you?” Nicole offered with a sincere nod of her head as she fixed her gaze on Wynonna. “Anything.”

“I don’t…” Wynonna coughed out in surprise and stared at Nicole curiously for a moment. She had not expected that to be her response. She blinked a few times before shaking it off and huffing out a breath “Well, shit, I have no idea! As far as I’m concerned, everything you say from now on could be total bullshit! You just admitted to being brainwashed with tactical military combat intelligence!”

“Wynonna, I told you I haven’t-’

“Oh, also, not to mention” Wynonna spoke right over Nicole “You weren’t too forthcoming with this whole…” She pointed Peacemaker at Nicole and used it to motion at her entire being “....zombie immunity tidbit! When were you going to tell us that?”

“When it came up” Nicole let out a heavy sigh. “When the time was right?” She shrugged and took a step away from Waverly now. She moved toward Wynonna with one hand lifted between them as a way to try and keep the other woman calm. “What would you have said if I would have blurted it out first thing? You’d have killed me.”

“You’re damn right” Wynonna took a step back when she saw Nicole move toward her. She lifted Peacemaker and pointed it at her. She cocked the gun and gave a single nod “I should have killed you then. I knew you couldn’t be trusted.”

“Wynonna, don’t!” Waverly moved to jump between Nicole and her sister but was stopped by Nicole’s arm.

“I’ll go” Nicole relented as she gently kept Waverly out from between herself and Wynonna. Her eyes never wavered as she kept her gaze locked on the older sister. “You are worried and you don’t think you can trust me and I get it. So I can go. I can stay in the church and give you some time to think it over. Either way, I am not leaving Purgatory until the colony is destroyed.”

Wynonna’s eyes flickered over Nicole and the way she was holding herself right now. She didn’t want to admit that she was terrified that Nicole was going to eat them in the middle of the night. Moreso she was afraid that Waverly was growing too fond of her too quickly and was being set up to be hurt when Nicole inevitably betrayed them. She wanted to hate Nicole, exile her, make sure that Waverly stayed as far away from her as possible. But the way she stood in that moment, her body relaxed and unthreatening, as she held Waverly out of the way in a gesture of leaving herself exposed gave Wynonna the feeling that just maybe she was being sincere.

“You can stay in the barn” She finally breathed out with a roll of her eyes. “Just for a night or two until I decide whether or not you’re a double agent.”

“Okay” Nicole nodded just once to show she had heard Wynonna loud and clear and would not argue. “If you ever feel uncomfortable just say the word and I will leave.”

“You don’t have to-” Waverly shook her head and looked from her sister to Nicole and back again. She frowned and let out a soft sigh as she slowly stepped toward Wynonna “I trust her. She didn’t have to tell us any of that. She doesn’t owe us anything. But she’s been honest this entire time.”

“And that is why I said she can stay in the barn” Wynonna reiterated with a nod. Her eyes flickered from her sister to Nicole. She carefully looked her over just once before her gaze returned to her sister “I think I’m being reasonable.”

“You are” Nicole agreed quickly. She glanced at Waverly, who looked upset, and gave her a soft smile. “I’ll still be close. I’ll be right outside in case anything happens to you guys. Besides…” She gave a shrug and motioned behind herself in the vague direction of the barn “Someone has to keep watch anyway. Might as well be me. I can hear zombies coming much sooner than either of you can see them.”

“Wait, what?” Wynonna’s eyes shifted from her sister and gave Nicole a curious glance.

Nicole nodded in an almost matter-of-fact fashion “The zombie virus in me has a few benefits. I can hear them coming. They also can not smell me. That is how I’m able to sneak up on them.”

Wynonna’s curious stare remained on Nicole for a few moments while she processed. She eventually gave a nod and hummed quickly as a way of showing the woman she was impressed by what she had just heard.

“I’ll go” Nicole motioned behind herself once more before turning to the bed to gather her belongings.

Waverly made a move to stop Nicole but Wynonna set her hand on her sister’s shoulder and gently prevented her from doing so. She gave a squeeze as if silently telling her that it was going to be okay as the two of them watched Nicole pack up.

Nicole didn’t mind being alone. Since being sent out on her rescue mission she had been alone and it had been more peace than she had ever known. She also understood that Wynonna needed some time to process. It wouldn’t hurt to give Waverly some space, too. The sisters needed to really discuss what they had learned and make a decision without Nicole around. It was the right thing to do.

As she slid her trenchcoat back on she turned and saw the girls both watching her. Her eyes looked them both over and it almost hurt to see the look in their eyes. Wynonna looked betrayed which was odd considering Nicole never felt like the woman had ever trusted her. Waverly, well she looked absolutely wounded. Like a puppy having been kicked when all it had wanted was a little love from its owner. Nicole had to look away. She didn’t know which face hurt more to look at.

She picked up her backpack and turned back around. She glanced over the sisters once more then motioned toward the door “If you need me…” She shrugged, hung her head, then headed for the door.

“Nicole, wait” Waverly reached out for the woman. Surprisingly Wynonna released her shoulder and let her step away.

Nicole perked an eyebrow and turned to look at the woman who had called for her.

“Here” Waverly rushed over to the bed that Nicole had been staying on and quickly tugged the blanket off of it. She turned and shyly offered it out to the woman “I don’t want you to get cold.”

Nicole couldn’t fight the amusement on her face. She gave a slight nod and reached out for the offered blanket. She then tossed it over her shoulder and gave it a pat where it came to rest “Good thinking.” She gave a wink then turned and headed for the door. She didn’t have the heart to tell her that her modified blood kept her core temperature higher than usual so getting cold was not really a worry she had.

She made her way outside and it wasn’t until the door of the Homestead swung shut behind her that she released a heavy breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding. Her head shook as she looked back at the larger house before she turned and headed for the barn. She was used to being alone. She didn’t have any friends. The researchers, doctors, scientists, and combat trainers back home weren’t her friends. She never really cared because the desensitizing X-Division had done to her had worked to erase the part of her that needed companionship. So to feel sad that she had potentially lost any sort of relationship with the Earp girls was a new feeling for her. She wasn’t sure she liked it. She wished she could go back to being cold so she didn’t have to experience what she could only guess was regret.

~.~.~.~.~.~.


	6. Well at least you feel like shit, too

“Wynonna I don’t think-” Waverly huffed and stormed over to where her sister had set herself at the kitchen table. She reached out and yanked the old bottle of whiskey out of her hands, spilling it slightly since Wynonna had been drinking out of it, and stepped away from her “I need you to have a clear head for like five minutes, please.”

Wynonna had reached out to try and snatch the bottle back but Waverly was too quick. She set her sister with a scowl as she stood from her chair and stomped over to where the hand towel hung from the fridge door. She ripped it from its spot and whirled back around to look at Waverly as she started to pat dry the huge wet spot on the front of her shirt that had been caused by Waverly ripping the bottle away “What do you want me to say? I feel fucking betrayed, Waverly! There is a reason we haven’t trusted anyone since-” She paused and motioned in the vague direction of the spot where their family had been killed.

“I know how you feel” Waverly nodded as she gently took the cap for the whiskey off the table and started to screw it in place. “But at the same time…” She gave her head a shake as her eyes focused on what she was doing. Once she finished the small task of recapping the alcohol she let out a sigh and looked back at her sister with a shrug “...I can’t explain it but I feel like we can really, truly trust her.”

“The only people you’ve ever known are your family, Waves” Wynonna looked down at her shirt. When she realized she was better off just changing out of it she let out a sigh and tossed the towel onto the table. “The only people I’ve ever known is our family. I have no idea what trust is. We had an automatic trust system built in with our family, you know? I never had to second guess it.”

“But you trust me without question, right?” Waverly perked an eyebrow and motioned to herself.

“Obviously” Wynonna rolled her eyes and gave a nod.

“It feels natural, right? Like nothing inside you is telling you not to trust me?” Waverly gave a single shoulder shrug at herself.

“Yes, of course” Wynonna pushed off the counter behind her and moved toward her sister. “Where is this coming from?”

“I’m just saying” Waverly lifted a hand to pause her sister’s approach. She gave her head another shake as her hand dropped now “I don’t know why but when I think about trusting Nicole it feels as natural as trusting you, Wynonna.”

“You’re naive” Wynonna huffed out slightly. “Just because she’s been nice to you doesn’t mean you can trust her.”

“Please don’t insult my intelligence” Waverly’s brow furrowed slightly. “I just explained to you what it felt like to trust you and now you’re telling me that’s not valid just because it’s how I feel toward Nicole, too?”

“No, I didn’t mean-”

“What did you mean?” Waverly threw her arms out to the side and stared at her sister as if daring her to explain it in a way that wasn’t offensive. “I know I don’t have any experience with anyone else in the world but you, okay? But I trust you and I know what that trust feels like. I’m not stupid enough to think that feeling is the same about every other person in the world that isn’t a zombie. If I didn’t like her and I didn’t trust her I would feel it...” She motioned to the very center of her stomach and gave a nod “...I would know it before I even had to think about it.”

“Come on, Waves,” Wynonna let out a defeated sounding sigh as she reached out for her sister. “I would never say you’re stupid. I just want you to be careful. Our lives are at risk here, babygirl. Everything we’ve been fighting for could be gone if we don’t take time to really think about who we trust. It is about you and I, it has always been that way, and I wanna make sure it always will be.”

“What’s the point?” Waverly stepped away from her sister’s attempt to comfort her. “So we can live here alone for the rest of our lives and die?”

“Would that be so bad?” Wynonna shrugged.

“Terrible” Waverly coughed out the word. “Wynonna what is the point of life if we aren’t going to live it? Don’t you think there should be a point? A reason? Something out there to live for? What is the point of just surviving? Life should be about more than that.”

“Daddy fought so hard for so long to make sure we could survive. Doesn’t that mean anything to you?” Wynonna huffed and threw her hands out much like Waverly had done just moments earlier.

“I think daddy would want his daughters to stop hiding from the fight” Waverly gave her head a shake as she turned away from her sister.

“Wait, where are you going?” Wynonna quickly gave chase.

“I am going to go talk to Nicole” Waverly whirled around to a stop near the door. She looked her sister over then motioned behind her toward the barn. “I am going to get more answers. I am going to listen to her, to hear her out, and give her an honest chance. I want to have all the information before I decide to send her packing. I want to know that I can trust her without you in my ear telling me I can’t.”

“Waverly, come on. I said she could stay” Wynonna flipped her arm in a weak motion toward the barn too. “I am still deciding on how I feel about her.”

“You need to do that on your own” Waverly gave a nod then motioned to herself. “So do I. So I am going to go talk to her.”

“Right now?” Wynonna breathed out a soft huff “It can’t wait until morning?”

“No” Waverly shook her head slightly. “I don’t want the feeling of betrayal that is lingering inside me to go away. I want it all at once so I can sort through it and make the right decision.” She turned once more toward the door while reaching for her coat and scarf. “Besides” She looked back at her sister as she wrapped the scarf around herself “It’s dinner time. I am going to make sure she eats something.”

Wynonna snorted out a soft laugh at that. If there was one constant about Waverly it was her ability to nag people about eating. It was annoying but, and she would never admit to this, she was grateful for it. Without her sister she was sure she would have forgotten to eat and died years ago.

“I won’t be gone too long” Waverly spoke more softly now as she zipped her coat up.

“Stay warm. I don’t want you catching anything” Wynonna gave a point at her sister as if she were emphasizing her words but it wasn’t as stern as she would have liked. She let out a heavy sigh and dropped her hand before giving a nod “If you need me I’ll be here.”

“You always are” Waverly agreed with a nod before moving over to her sister. She placed a very gentle kiss on her cheek and smiled “And I am thankful for that.”

“Just doing my job” Wynonna gave a single pat against Waverly’s arm then lifted her hand. She pointed at her, made a clicking sound with her tongue, and winked.

Waverly rolled her eyes as she fought off a smile. Her sister had never been great with emotions. She wondered if that would ever change. She would need to adapt if they ever got out of the Ghost River Triangle and had the chance to live in civilization again. She liked that idea. She knew without a doubt Wynonna would thrive in a world filled with people. She might piss a few of them off along the way but, hey, as long as she was thriving it would be worth it. That was the goal, she thought. She wanted to see her sister doing something other than killing. Wynonna was too smart to waste her life in a barren wasteland with nothing to offer. She hoped once they got out of there Wynonna would believe it, too.

~.~.~.~.~.

Nicole let out a sputtering sigh. She had her chin propped in her hand and her elbow on the windowsill. Her eyes were scanning the area around the Homestead from her vantage point on the second level of the barn. It was a chilly night but it didn’t bother her too much. Between her trenchcoat and the blanket Waverly had given her she barely felt the chill. 

She had the speaker that was connected to the bug she planted set up on the windowsill too. So far she hadn’t really heard anything. She wasn’t sure if zombies had to sleep. She knew she could function off very little but she had no idea if that was because of her training or the zombie virus inside her. All she knew was the zombie they had bugged seemed to either be alone or asleep because not much chatter had come over the speaker in a little while.

She looked at the little black speaker and used a finger to tap at it lightly “You suck. You were supposed to distract me from feeling like shit. You are the worst bug I’ve ever planted.”

“Well at least you feel like shit, too” Waverly’s voice came from behind Nicole.

Nicole whirled around and, without thinking about it, pulled the knife from her boot and held it out toward Waverly. It had been a reflex. Her eyes went wide in surprise when she realized who was there and just as quickly as she had pulled the weapon out she dropped it and gave a quick shake of her head “I am so sorry. You snuck up on me.”

“Glad I wasn’t closer or I might not have a throat left” Waverly stared with a look of half surprise and half amusement. She then let out a very soft laugh and lifted the bag of food she had gathered from inside before heading to the barn. “I thought you might be hungry.”

“Oh” Nicole eyed the bag and nodded again. She wasn’t used to being so well fed. Since leaving on her recon mission she had been living off what she could find and, well, that wasn’t a lot. It was nice to have constant food to look forward to. She smiled at that and nodded before lowering back to her knees where she had been sitting on the floor next to the window and patted the hay covered boards next to her “I’m starved.”

Waverly slowly walked over to Nicole and offered her the bag. She then moved across the small space that was the second level of the barn and found herself a seat on a hay bale. She gave Nicole a soft smile and motioned to the speaker “So I guess from what I heard on my way up the ladder it’s safe to assume there’s no news?”

Nicole definitely took notice of the fact that Waverly had not sat beside her but she did not say anything. She couldn’t really blame her. After what had unfolded inside she was surprised to see the woman this soon. So instead she just focused on the food and gave a nod to Waverly’s inquiry “It’s gone quiet. That could mean a few things.”

“Like what?” Waverly folded her arms across her chest and fought a shiver. The chill coming through the open window cut her right to her bones.

“They found the bug” Nicole shrugged nonchalantly at that. “Or he’s asleep” She added quickly before Waverly could freak out. “He could have changed clothes and left the coat I slipped the bug into on a hook or something but, honestly, I don’t think zombies really care about clean clothing.”

Waverly nodded but kept quiet as she processed everything.

“Or…” Nicole finally looked up when Waverly had not answered. That is when she saw the girl shiver. She frowned and immediately got to her feet. She took the blanket she had around her shoulders off and moved over to Waverly. She knelt in front of the hay as her arms reached out to slide the blanket around the other woman. She gave her a very soft smile as she did so “Good thing you thought ahead.”

Waverly bit her lip as she pulled the blanket down a little more tightly on her shoulders and across her chest. The way Nicole was looking at her sent a chill up her spine. It wasn’t because she was cold, or afraid, but quite the opposite. The way Nicole was looking at her filled her with a sense of safety and a very odd rush of heat. She gave a single nod as she tried to push away the sensation “Yeah the blanket was a good call.”

“I have a feeling you always think ahead” Nicole nodded and stood up from where she had been kneeling. She kept her soft gaze on Waverly and as she towered over her now from her standing position she took a second to look her over. She was a smaller person than herself but that did not mean she was meek. When Nicole looked at her she saw nothing but strength and, well, something else she wasn’t quite sure how to describe. All she knew was that she liked what she saw.

“I try to” Waverly concurred. She noticed Nicole taking a moment to look her over and she felt herself warm with a blush now. She once more bit her lip and, in an attempt to change the subject, she shifted her eyes to the little black speaker on the windowsill. She gave a nod toward it and spoke again softly “So do you think they’ve found the bug?”

“Oh” Nicole blinked a few times when Waverly spoke and she realized she had been staring. She shook her head as if trying to refocus herself before turning back toward the speaker. She moved to sit on the floor next to the window again and gave a little shrug “I doubt it. The bug is tiny and unless you know what to look for it’s hard to find. My guess is he’s asleep or changed clothes.”

“Do zombies sleep?” Waverly perked an eyebrow curiously. She had always had a million questions regarding the undead but had never had anyone to ask. Now she was going to take full advantage of the fact that Nicole had more information than she could have ever imagined anyone having. 

“I have no idea” Nicole glanced at Waverly with a shrug. “I know I don’t need a lot of sleep but I am not sure if that is because of my training or the zombie virus in my blood.” She glanced down at her feet when she mentioned the virus. She drew in a deep breath and let out a sigh “I was going to tell you. I never meant to hide it, at all. I just didn’t know when the right time was.”

“I know” Waverly whispered softly. “You’re right, you know? Had you introduced yourself as someone with the zombie virus already in your blood Wynonna would have killed you on the spot.”

Nicole gave a nod and glanced up at Waverly. When she saw the girl looking at her softly and not with hurt in her eyes she felt her heart flutter. She wasn’t sure if it was out of relief or for another reason. She also wasn’t sure why Waverly was suddenly able to make her feel all these weird feelings. She tried to shake it off and sighed again “I have no idea how I can prove to you two that I’m one of the good guys.”

“Well that’s why I’m here” Waverly slid to the end of the hay bale she was sitting on and gave a nod. “I wanted to talk to you, get to know you, ask you questions. I feel…” She gave a shake of her head as she tried to find the right word to explain herself. She gave it a few seconds and when nothing landed she just shrugged “...I feel like I’d feel it, you know? Right here?” She tapped at her stomach softly “Intuition or something.”

“Sure, yeah” Nicole gave a nod at that. She turned now so her back was leaning against the wall next to the window and she was facing Waverly fully. “Have you used a lot of intuition in your life?”

Waverly let out a soft laugh at that and rolled her eyes “I’m not really sure how to answer that. If you’re asking whether I have a fine tuned bullshit detector I’d like to direct your attention to my sister.”

Nicole laughed very softly at that and nodded in agreement. She didn’t know either of them very well but she could tell that Wynonna was definitely a sarcastic handful at times and that had to be challenging to deal with. “You know, I don’t know you very well, but I know what family looks like. She loves you, Waverly. That is plain as day.”

“I know” Waverly agreed with a single nod. Then something Nicole said rang in her ears and she perked an eyebrow at her “What do you mean when you say you know what family looks like? I thought your parents were dead.”

“They are” Nicole nodded quickly to assure her that had not been a lie. “But in The Garden there are plenty of families. I wasn’t always locked up in a science lab.” A smile flickered across her features in an indication that she did in fact have a sense of humor. “We have kids running around and playing together. There are teenagers. Some of the older people have been there since the beginning. Families all stay in the same house and some of them are large groups. They are always the most tight-knit. They are the ones willing to give up rations for others in their house if they are sick and can’t work.”

“Wait they don’t get food if they can’t work?” Waverly looked almost horrified at the thought.

Nicole just nodded her head. She had never really thought too much about it because, well, she always had food because she always fulfilled her duties. She patrolled the grounds and did watches and acted as security in the odd case that there was a disturbance between other citizens. 

“That’s terrible” Waverly coughed out the words. “You don’t see anything wrong with that?”

“Waverly, it’s just how it is there” Nicole motioned to no place in particular and shrugged. “It’s how that society functions. Everyone has a duty to fulfill. If you don’t or can’t then you don’t eat for the day.” She flicked her hand to the side dismissively “They don’t make you starve or anything. If you’re really sick they will take you to the hospital and nurse you back to health. You just owe a few extra working hours to make up for it.”

“So what happens if you can’t contribute?” Waverly huffed out.

“I don’t know” Nicole shrugged and the look on her face told that she wasn’t lying. “They have a place that holds the unable. The old or terminally ill or those who are physically unable to do much of anything. As far as I know they are taken care of there, as a group, by kind and gentle nurses.”

“Oh” Waverly processed the information and after a moment nodded. “Okay that doesn’t sound too bad then.”

“When food supplies run low we grind one up and process them into rations” Nicole spoke so casually it was almost hard to believe.

“WHAT!” Waverly gasped and shot up off her hay bale. “You EAT PEOPLE?”

“Woah!” Nicole lifted her hands and got to her knees. “Waverly, I was just kidding. You know, a joke?” She shook her head and tried to keep a calm tone so as not to irritate Waverly further. “I see now it was in poor taste.”

“Oh my god!” Waverly looked absolutely offended. She stared with her mouth hanging open for a few seconds. Then she shook her head and scowled “Nicole that is not funny!”

“I’m sorry” Nicole tried to fight off her laughter but she failed. A soft chuckle came from her lips as she stared up at Waverly “I am so sorry. I thought you’d be used to sarcasm given who your sister is.”

“Eating people is not funny” Waverly swatted at Nicole, hitting her lightly in her extended hands, before she sat back down on the hay.

“You’re right” Nicole couldn’t stop smiling as she watched Waverly sit back down. Hey at least she hadn’t stormed away.

Waverly’s eyes narrowed into a scowl that she set on Nicole for a few moments. After sitting on the joke for a little bit she smirked very softly and chuckled as she whispered “Poor taste.”

Nicole bit her lip to fight off her growing smile before nodding at the words “An unintentional but perfectly placed pun.”

Waverly was smiling as she rolled her eyes and wrapped the blanket she had dropped in her surprise back around herself. When she looked back at Nicole and saw the woman staring at her with a wide smile she couldn’t help the tiny laugh that escaped her lips. She felt her heart flutter slightly. When she wasn’t being all hard and warrior-like, Nicole was actually really gentle. She let out a sigh and nodded at the woman “You have nice dimples.”

“I do?” Nicole arched an eyebrow slightly but did not take her eyes off of Waverly. As the other woman nodded to confirm what she had said Nicole gave a nod of her own. She stared at her curiously and after a moment let out a sort of embarrassed sounding laugh “What are dimples?”

“What are-” Waverly scoffed in disbelief. She wasn’t sure she could believe what she had just heard. She eyed Nicole carefully, as if trying to decide if she was joking again. When she realized she was serious, Waverly got up from the hay. She moved across the short space between them and knelt in front of Nicole. She lifted her hand and gently slid her thumb over one of Nicole’s prominent dimples that adorned her cheeks “These are dimples. They come out when you smile.”

“Oh” Nicole breathed the word out as the sensation of Waverly’s touch against her face sent a shiver through her. It was so odd for her, all these feelings and sensations swirling through her body, and she wasn’t sure what any of it meant. They were warm, though. She was pretty sure she liked most of what she felt. She definitely liked Waverly’s touch. She liked it so much, in fact, that before she realized she was doing it she had turned her face into Waverly’s hand as if indulging in the tenderness of her touch.

Waverly felt her heart jump into her throat at the way Nicole turned into her touch. It had been innocent enough, her simply pointing out the dimples, and yet it seemed to have unintentionally carried much more with it. The way Nicole moved into her touch warmed her fingers. That warmth spread quickly down to her hand, through her wrist, up to her elbow, around the curve of her shoulder, and like a firework exploded into her chest. Her hand trembled against Nicole’s cheek and though she was sure she needed to pull her touch away she simply could not.

Nicole blinked just once when she realized what she had done. Then her eyes went wide with surprise. Then she started to panic. She had never panicked in her life and yet she somehow knew how to do it immediately. She quickly gasped at herself and yanked her head away “I don’t know why I did that.”

“Don’t” Waverly quickly used her other hand to cup at Nicole’s other cheek. She trapped her head from making the escape it had attempted just a second prior. She held the woman’s face gently in both her hands and after a momentary pause of uncertainty between both of them, they both seemed to simultaneously exhale. Waverly smiled just slightly as her fingertips gently started to slide over the contours of Nicole’s facial features. Her face was scarred. Not as badly as the rest of her body but there were some obvious marks. Waverly’s eyes moved to trace the path her fingers took as she tenderly brushed her touch over one particular scar on the outside of Nicole’s left cheek that ran parallel with her ear “How did you get this one?”

Goosebumps rose on Nicole’s skin as Waverly’s fingers ignited nerves she had not known she possessed. She closed her eyes when the scar on her face was traced. She drew in a deep breath in an attempt to calm her furiously beating heart. The intensity of the heat that was radiating through her body was almost overwhelming. Then Waverly whispered her question and Nicole felt herself melt. Her eyes fluttered open and when her gaze found Waverly’s curious eyes on her she swallowed because her throat had gone dry. When she spoke it was in a trembling whisper “I got it trying to save my mother.”

Waverly’s emotions were in overdrive. She had so many conflicting and confusing things swirling about inside that she couldn’t seem to settle on one thing to feel. But when Nicole spoke of her mother she felt a wave of sadness wash over her. Her eyes filled with tears almost immediately and she had to break the stare she had held with Nicole. She looked back at the scar, letting her finger trace it again, before she nodded “I wish I could have saved my parents.”

“I’m sure you tried” Nicole’s face once more moved against Waverly’s touch. She closed her eyes and tried again to draw in a steadying breath. She wasn’t sad about her parents. X-Division had taken away the part of her that felt sadness. They had taken away any part of her that felt anything other than the drive to kill. At least they had tried. Obviously brainwashing and desensitization were no match for Waverly Earp because Nicole was feeling things she had never felt in her life. She was also helpless to fight them, it seemed.

“Nicole” Waverly whispered as her eyes moved back from the scar to find the other woman’s eyes opening slowly to meet her gaze. A smile flickered at the corners of her lips and she nodded just once “I want you to know I trust you.”

Nicole nodded at the words but she wasn’t really sure what to say. She had never cared about trust. She had never cared about acceptance. She had cared about doing her job and saving as many human beings as possible. But in this moment she felt a new sensation rise in her. She realized she cared about all of that now. Not from everyone, though. She only cared what Waverly thought of her. She wanted Waverly to trust her and accept her. Most of all she cared more than anything about keeping her safe.

“Are you okay?” Waverly’s face curled into a worried frown when it seemed like Nicole was just staring at her unable to speak.

“I’m okay” Nicole nodded quickly. She didn’t know if she was okay. She didn’t know what was happening. Everything she had known for the past ten years was gone, it seemed. She was in an entirely new world and she was not sure how to deal with it.

“You looked terrified” Waverly whispered as her hands slowly moved down Nicole’s cheeks until they eventually fell away completely.

When Waverly’s hands left Nicole’s skin it was as if she snapped out of whatever trance Waverly had put on her. She thought a little more clearly. Her heart rate slowed. She felt the fluttering that had risen in her stomach start to die. She blinked just once in confusion at that. “Wait” She whispered and reached for one of Waverly’s hands.

“What?” Waverly looked down at her hand in surprise as Nicole grabbed onto it.

“Just…” Nicole shook her head and lifted the hand to her face again. She pressed Waverly’s fingers into her cheek and gave her a nod to indicate she wanted her to hold her face again.

Waverly looked confused but she obliged. She focused her eyes on her hand as she spread it to once more cup Nicole’s cheek. Then her eyes focused on Nicole and she raised an eyebrow “What is it?”

“I feel” Nicole moved her cheek into Waverly’s touch and closed her eyes. She drew in another deep breath before a smile slowly came over her cheeks.

“You feel what?” Waverly breathed out a curious sounding laugh. “Nicole you aren’t making any sense.”

“I feel” Nicole repeated as her hand reached up to cover Waverly’s against her cheek. Her eyes opened and she looked excited. Her smile grew under the other woman’s touch “Waverly, I feel everything. Emotions and sensations. I’m warm and happy and…” Her smile faded just slightly, her tone became more serious, and her eyes focused firmly on Waverly “Nervous. I feel timid and terrified by you, because of you, and I’m not really sure what it means. All I know is I feel it.”

“I scare you?” Waverly’s breath hitched in her throat.

Nicole nodded quickly. She hadn’t blinked since setting her gaze on Waverly. Her lips once more flickered into a slight smile “I’m not sure what it means. All I know is I am terrified to lose you.”

Before Waverly knew what was happening her other hand had lifted to Nicole’s face and she was pulling her into a kiss. She wasn’t sure where that had come from. Maybe it was every confusing thing she had felt since meeting Nicole. Maybe it was seeing all the scars and hearing her terrible story. Maybe it was the fact that she had the best physique of anyone she had ever seen. Whatever had driven this reaction didn’t matter because it felt right. She felt it in her stomach. Her intuition was screaming at her that this was exactly what was supposed to happen.

“Woah, Waverly” Nicole had returned the kiss for about two seconds before pulling away. Her eyes were wide with surprise. She stared at the girl in complete shock as she tried to understand what was happening. Then, as if she had figured it out and it all made sense, she gave a nod to herself and moved in to capture Waverly’s lips in another hungry kiss.

Neither of them really knew what was happening. Neither of them took a second to think about what any of it meant. The fact was neither of them really cared. In that moment, it seemed, they were both content to let all of their inhibitions go and simply share a moment with another human being. Though neither of them had experienced anything like this before they were both very much enjoying all the sensations coursing through them as they lost themselves in the kiss.

“Hold on, man, let me get my coat” A voice suddenly blared out through the black speaker on the windowsill.

Both girls jumped back from each other. Nicole whirled around toward the speaker as her hand moved to slide back through her hair. She stared at the speaker a moment before looking back at Waverly “You heard that, right?”

“Yeah” Waverly was a little breathless from the kiss. She let out a soft laugh as her fingers lifted to touch her lips. She was more confused now than she had been when she first walked into the barn.

There was the sound of rustling about, as if fabric was being brushed over the surface of the microphone, before it faded. “What does Bobo want?”

“He wants us to go rough up the nerd” A different voice broke in now.

“In the middle of the night?” The first voice returned.

“We gotta threaten him. No sleep until he produces more synthetic brains. If he refuses we’re gonna kill one of his friends.”

Nicole blinked and turned back to look at Waverly with wide eyes “Did you hear that?”

“They’re killing humans” Waverly bit her lip and slid across the floor to bring herself right next to Nicole. “We have to save them.”

“They have someone making fake brains, Waverly” Nicole looked back at the speaker and shook her head. “This is bad. If they can figure out how to feed themselves there will be nothing stopping them from wiping out humanity as a whole.”

“Oh shit” Waverly gave a nod because she hadn’t thought about it that way. She looked at Nicole with worry on her face “What are we going to do?”

“We have to save them” Nicole stood up from the floor now and quickly started to brush the hay off of her coat and pants. She then reached down and offered her hand out to help Waverly up as well. “We have to get in there.”

“But how?” Waverly brushed herself off as well before wrapping the blanket around her more tightly.

“I…” Nicole let out a sigh as she reached down to pick up the knife she had threatened Waverly with when she had snuck up on her. She tucked the knife back into her boot then looked back to the other woman “I have a plan but your sister is going to hate it.”

“Wakey wakey little dork!” The zombie voice returned to the speaker but it was hard to tell which one was speaking now.

“Get up you little shit” The second voice came. There was also a bang. It sounded like metal hitting metal.

“What time is it?” A third voice was heard. This one was kinder, gentler, and it was obvious it belonged to the human.

“Time for you to get to work” There was another bang.

“Please, I’m tired! I can’t work on no sleep and no food” The human voice came again. He sounded weak. He sounded petrified.

“Too bad” There was a new sound now. It seemed to be a clinking of metal and a jingling. Keys, maybe. 

“They have them in cages” Nicole’s eyes were fixed on the speaker and a frown was painted on her face.

“If you can’t figure out the formula for the synthetic brains Bobo is gonna kill one of your friends” There was a shuffling and then another bang. “How about this one? You two seem pretty close.”

There was a scream.

“NO! Don’t touch her!” The human voice pleaded with the zombie now. “Look, tell Bobo I’m working as fast as I can but brains are delicate! Even with all the technological advancements in medicine and science we haven’t been able to replicate the human brain. It is going to take time!”

“Tick tock” Another bang against the cage. Another scream. “Or your lady friend here gets it.”

“You can’t!” The human voice came again. Each time he spoke he seemed to be gaining confidence. It was as if he knew the zombies were desperate. He knew he was in control “I need her. I need all of them. How am I supposed to replicate brain matter without a sample? I need them for testing.”

There were a few hushed mumbles. Neither Nicole nor Waverly could make out what was being said.

“Two days” One of the zombies barked out.

“I’ll need more tim-”

“Two days!” 

“Come on” Nicole grabbed the speaker with one hand and Waverly’s arm with the other. 

“Wait, where are we going?” Waverly stumbled a few steps before gaining her footing.

“We have to go get them. We don’t have much time” Nicole shook her head as she started to climb down the ladder that led from the top level to the ground. Once she landed with a thud on the dirt she reached up as a gesture of telling Waverly that she would spot her as she climbed down.

“Nicole, we can’t just march in there tonight” Waverly huffed as she started down the ladder.

“I told you I have a plan” Nicole nodded as her eyes focused on Waverly. When she was within arms reach she slid her hands around her waist and gently guided her down.

Waverly bit her lip at the sensation that coursed through her when Nicole grabbed onto her waist. When her feet came in contact with the ground she quickly turned around which caused the women to be nearly chest to chest. She looked Nicole over once and smiled almost shyly “Can I ask you something?”

Nicole gave a nod as her eyes focused gently on the other woman “You know you can ask me anything.”

“What happened back there?” Waverly motioned up the ladder she had just descended and quirked an eyebrow. 

“I have no idea” Nicole whispered softly. Her hand reached up and she gently brushed some of Waverly’s messy bangs off her face as a smile came to her lips. “All I know is that it was exhilarating.”

“To say the least” Waverly gave a sideways nod of her head and bit at her bottom lip. She once more let her eyes look over all of Nicole in front of her before she fixed her gaze on the other woman’s eyes “What does it all mean?”

“I really don’t know” Nicole admitted with a shake of her head. “But I promise you this…” She offered her a very tender smile as her hand lightly slid along Waverly’s cheek then down over her neck. She gave a single nod as she spoke “...we will figure it out, okay?”

Waverly gave a quick nod and once more bit her lip to fight off a smile.

“But we have to do that later” Nicole’s smile faded and she stepped away from Waverly with a motion toward the Homestead “We have to save those humans.”

“Of course” Waverly gave another nod and rolled her eyes at herself. There were far more important things to focus on. Besides, if they all died, then the kiss they had just shared was a moot point so they totally needed to get back to saving the world.

“Let’s go” Nicole reached her hand out for Waverly as she turned to head back toward the house.

The two of them rushed quickly across the small yard between the two buildings. As they burst into the front door Wynonna jumped off the couch in fright. She looked at the other two with wide eyes, Peacemaker lifted in their direction, as she tried to catch her balance. When she realized she was not under attack and it was just her sister and Nicole she let out a heavy sigh “Dude I almost shot you! You gotta warn a girl!”

“Sorry. But there’s no time” Waverly rushed over to her sister now. She grabbed ahold of her arm and gave a tug as if pulling her attention to her immediately. When that worked and she saw Wynonna look at her with wide, curious eyes she gave a nod “We heard something over the speaker.”

Wynonna could tell by the look on Waverly’s face that it had been something important. So she gave a nod and motioned over to where Nicole was holding the speaker “Yeah, shit, okay what’s going on?”

“They are holding humans hostage” Nicole came over to the other two now and pointed at the speaker. There wasn’t anything coming out of it at the moment but that didn’t matter.

“They’re threatening to kill them unless one of them can figure out how to make fake brains” Wavery sounded a little distressed as she motioned to the speaker.

“Who?” Wynonna looked between the other two. “Who is making fake brains?”

“A scientist?” Nicole shrugged and looked at the speaker. “A doctor, maybe? But they threatened to kill the others if he didn’t hurry which means they are getting desperate. They must be running out of food.”

“Okay, so let’s just…” Wynonna shrugged at the speaker “....let them starve to death.”

“You don’t get it” Nicole scowled and stepped closer. She held the speaker up as if it held any sort of significant visual proof to what she was saying “They want synthetic brain matter and they are willing to do whatever it takes to get it. If this guy can’t figure it out I would wager a bet that they’d just go find another doctor until one of them was successful.”

“So?” Wynonna huffed out in frustration because it seemed like Nicole was growing irritated which was causing her to grow irritated “So what if they make fake brains? They’d stop eating humans.”

“No!” Waverly shook her head and stepped in now because she could tell the other two were both growing impatient. “No, Wynonna, this means they would have no use for humans. They’d have no reason to keep us alive. They would wipe us out and take over the world.”

“Oh” Wynonna blinked once at her sister’s words. Then after a second it looked like she really understood and her eyes got wide “Oh shit! This is bad!”

“So we have to get in there and save those humans soon” Nicole nodded in agreement to Wynonna’s sentiments.

“Wait, it’s not like we can just storm in there and overpower them” Wynonna motioned to herself and the other two with a shrug. “I mean I have the magic gun and you have your…” She flicked a finger in the direction of Nicole’s whole being before shaking her head “...but I still don’t like those odds.”

“Remember when I told you I wasn’t a trojan horse?” Nicole perked an eyebrow at her own words.

“Yeah…” Both sisters said at the same time as they turned a skeptical eye toward Nicole.

Nicole gave a nod and motioned to the speaker she still held “What if I was?”

“What do you mean?” Wynonna slowly started to lift Peacemaker.

“She means…” Waverly reached out and stopped her sister from pointing the gun at Nicole. “She can get into the zombie camp. They can’t smell her, remember?”

“What?” Wynonna glanced at her sister then over to Nicole curiously.

“She told us that” Waverly rolled her eyes because, of course, her sister had not paid attention. “They can’t smell her and she can hear them coming from miles away.”

Nicole gave a nod and pointed at Waverly to indicate she was on the same page as herself. “What if I could disguise myself and get into their camp? Then when no one was looking I could free the humans and get them back here where it’s safe?”

Wynonna gave a single nod. She kept a slightly skeptical stare on Nicole for a moment before looking at her sister. When she saw Waverly nod she once more nodded and motioned to Nicole “Okay, fine, how do you plan on convincing them that you’re one of them long enough to break out the humans?”

Nicole looked at Waverly, gave her an apologetic frown, then focused on Wynonna “This is the part you’re gonna hate.”

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.


	7. I feel like a Jamaican in Egypt right now

“No way. Absolutely not” Wynonna was pacing around the living room as her head shook vigorously back and forth in disagreement with what Nicole had just laid out for her. “There has to be another way.”

“I need something to make them believe I am on their side” Nicole motioned to Waverly now and gave a nod. “Besides, if she is with me she will be able to help me free the others.”

“No” Wynonna whirled around in her tracks and fixed Nicole with a deathly glare. “Find another bargaining chip and leave my baby sister out of this.”

“Wynonna” Waverly put up a hand to stop Nicole from biting back as she stepped between the other two. She looked at her sister with a frown on her face “I know you forget sometimes, all the time actually, but I am an adult. I have been fighting these things for as long as you have. I’ve learned from you and I know how to handle myself.”

“Waverly, no” Wynonna stepped over to her sister and put her hands on her shoulders. “I can’t risk losing you.”

“You won’t” Waverly’s words dripped with confidence as her gaze held steady with her sister’s. “I am smart and I can fight. But also…” She motioned behind her to where Nicole was standing and gave one nod of her head “I’ll have a super soldier that was built for this. This is the moment we’ve been waiting for, Wynonna. A chance to end it all.”

“Woah, hey” Nicole stepped forward now and spoke softly as she gained the other two’s attention “I’m not saying we are going to march in there and take them all out. We are just going to take away their food supply so they are forced to leave the colony. The further they venture out the more likely it is we can pick them off and weaken their forces.”

“Or” Waverly put her hands up in the direction of both her sister and Nicole, stopping either of them from interrupting her, as her eyebrows twitched higher on her forehead “I might have a way to blow the entire factory sky high.”

“Wait, what?” Nicole blinked in surprise.

“Excuse me?” Wynonna huffed in disbelief and shook her head. “You have what now?”

“I’ve been taking inventory of everything in town. I have notebooks filled with everything we’ve ever found in any house, shop, or building we’ve ever stopped in” The corners of Waverly’s lips twitched into a slight smile as she started to unveil the information she had been keeping close to her chest. “By my calculations they have enough fuel stored somewhere in that factory to cause their own destruction.”

“Wait” Wynonna lifted a hand to stop her sister. She stared at her like she was looking at her for the first time. After a moment to soak it all in a smirk moved over her lips “Okay I am setting aside my complete disagreement of this plan for a few minutes so that you can explain what the Hell you’ve been up to.”

An almost bashful smile came to Waverly’s lips when she saw that her sister seemed impressed. She stepped out from between the other two and motioned for them to sit down. Once they were both seated on the couch she rushed up to her bedroom and dug out all of her research. It was in a big box but she managed to lift it and carry it all downstairs. When she returned and dropped the box on the floor she motioned to it proudly “Here is everything I’ve learned.”

Both Wynonna and Nicole sat there looking completely shocked as Waverly dug through her box and laid out each step of her plan one by one. It was all there. Everything they needed to know about long burning fires, how to spark the fuels, how to make them explode, and even what type of containers would be easiest to explode. There were stacks upon stacks of drawings and notes and Waverly rambled through them all excitedly and quickly, explaining each one as she went.

After about a half an hour she sat back on her heels, having knelt to the floor to spread everything out, and looked up with a smile. When she saw the other two staring at her in complete and utter shock she let out a tiny laugh and motioned to her plan “What do you think?”

“Where the Hell did you get all this information?” Wynonna coughed out the words through an impressed sounding breath of a laugh.

“The library?” Waverly offered the answer as if the question had been ridiculous. “Zombies are not interested in books, so most of the library has gone untouched.”

“When?” Wynonna shook her head and finally looked up from the plan that had been laid out to look at her sister.

“Over time” Waverly shrugged. “A lot of long hours hunting. Sometimes when you were in the church tower surveying the area I was in the library taking notes.”

“This could work” Nicole gave a few slow nods as her mind ran through all the information again. “All we need to do is figure out where they are keeping the tar and fuel. Make a few smaller bombs to start the fires and then…” She used her hands to mimic an explosion and nodded.

Waverly lifted her finger to pause Nicole in her thoughts as she shuffled through a few more stacks of paper. She found what she was looking for and offered it to Nicole to look over “I put together a few ideas for a detonator. The only problem is that I’m not sure how to make it so we can set it off from a safe distance.”

“I’m sure I can tweak some of the technology we have” Nicole nodded as she looked over the paper Waverly had given her. “Between the stuff you’ve taken from the police station and some of the stuff I have with me I should be able to put together a detonator with a little range on it."

“Yeah, okay, fine. Let’s say this all works” Wynonna motioned to the entirety of everything that Waverly had laid out for them on the living room floor. She then looked between the other two a few times and shrugged “How the Hell are we going to sneak the shit we need into the factory without them finding it? I mean I have a few ideas but I am not volunteering to help stash any of those things…” She smirked because, well, she totally meant putting things up their butts.

Waverly scrambled to her feet “Be right back!” She called out as she ran from the room. Again she was gone for a few moments and when she returned she was holding Peacemaker in her hands. She smirked as she swirled the gun around her finger “We use this.”

“How did you get-” Wynonna reached for her hip where she kept the gun at all times. When she found that it was still there, where it should be, her eyes widened and she looked back at her sister in awe. “What the Hell is that?”

“A near perfect replica” Waverly shrugged casually as she slid her fingers along the shaft of the fake gun, admiring her work, before giving a nod. “I figured there might come a day where having a fake Peacemaker would come in handy.”

“How did you…” Wynonna motioned to the gun her sister held then shook her head. “So that’s what you’ve been doing in the barn?”

Waverly let out a soft laugh as she handed the fake gun over to her sister to inspect “Wynonna, we’ve been stuck out here with nothing to do but prepare for the next fight with the zombies. You were always planning our next hunt or next supply run. I was more focused on the long game…” She motioned to the gun her sister held and nodded “You focused on keeping us alive and I focused on getting us the Hell out of here for good.”

“This is awesome” Nicole nodded as she reached for the fake gun to take a look at it herself. It really was impressive. She inspected it from tip to butt and gave a nod of approval before handing it back to Wynonna. “Does it work?”

“Well, no” Waverly gave a shake of her head. “But that doesn’t matter. It doesn’t need to work. It just needs to be able to pass as the real thing. They won’t want to touch it because it burns them when they do so I’m not too worried about them taking a real good look at it. I figured as long as they believed they have the gun then they’ll get careless.”

“I’m fucking floored, babygirl” Wynonna got up off the couch and moved over to her sister. She grabbed her face and pulled her close until her lips touched Waverly’s forehead. She kissed her firmly, letting her lips pop as they pulled away, before she dramatically released her face “I always knew that gigantic brain of yours would come in handy.”

“It’s too bad you never listened to me before now” Waverly grumbled as she wiped some slobber from her sister’s obnoxious kiss off her forehead.

“That’s not fair” Wynonna frowned and stepped back from her sister with a shake of her head. “You’ve never told me this plan.”

“Because any other time I’ve even attempted to try something new you've always shot it down. You said we didn’t have the supplies or the man power or whatever” Waverly rolled her eyes at that. “And maybe you were right before. We couldn’t have pulled it off until now.” She motioned to Nicole as she spoke the words and gave a nod “But things have changed.”

Wynonna glanced at Nicole and as much as she hated to admit it, Waverly was right. Without Nicole they would not be talking about this. It would be far too dangerous. It was still risky but they had a fighting chance now that Nicole was there. She rolled her eyes at that and looked back at her sister “I still don’t understand how fake Peacemaker helps smuggle things in. You know they’re going to make sure there are no weapons on you two.”

“Ah” Waverly motioned with her finger for Wynonna to hold on for a second. She then flipped the fake gun over and popped off the bottom of the butt end. She turned it around for her to see and smiled “It’s hollow. I figured we can put the detonator in there. Maybe some wiring…” She glanced at Nicole and shrugged “Whatever you come up with has to be smaller than this space. Do you think you can do that?”

“Probably” Nicole nodded and finally stood up off the couch. She held her hand out for the gun as she approached and once it was handed over she turned to look at it more closely. Her brows creased together in thought as she eyed the hollow end of the gun. She then turned it around and looked into the barrel. When she saw that it was empty too she gave a nod “I think I can figure something out.”

Waverly smiled gently at the woman as she handed the gun back to her. Their hands brushed together and there was a moment where their gazes met. It was just a second or two but the way their faces softened did not go unnoticed.

Wynonna perked an eyebrow at that. She looked at her sister, then to Nicole, and then back at her sister before letting out a sputtering huff. She motioned between the two of them and gave her head a shake “If I didn’t know any better I’d think you two had a secret.”

“No” Nicole let out an awkward cough of a laugh and rolled her eyes.

“Absolutely not” Waverly said at the same time and shook her head so quickly she was lucky she didn’t hurt her neck.

“I feel like a Jamaican in Egypt right now” Wynonna coughed out a laugh before speaking again, this time in a stereotypical Jamaican accent “Lookit De Nile, mon!” She motioned to the other two and gave an amused smirk as they stared at her in horror. 

“I am not in denial” Waverly huffed out then turned away from her sister. “I am going to go get some sleep so we can make a plan to infiltrate the factory tomorrow.”

“Awww Waves, come back” Wynonna put on a fake pout “I was having fun pointing out that there is clearly something you’re hiding from me!” She yelled the last of her words so Waverly, who had stormed up the stairs, could hopefully hear them.

Nicole had turned and was on her way outside when Wynonna whirled around and caught her. She pointed at her, even though she could not see it, and shouted “Freeze, G.I. Zombie.” She smirked when the woman froze and she took a few slow steps toward her, perking her eyebrow curiously as she moved, before giving a shrug “What are you not telling me? And remember ...” She lifted Peacemaker and pointed it at Nicole with a nod “I’ll shoot you if you lie to me.”

“Honestly, Wynonna” Nicole gave her head a shake as she let out a sigh. “Your sister and I had a moment in the barn before we heard them talking about killing the humans over the speaker and it was-”

“What kind of moment?” The surprise at the confession was obvious on Wynonna’s face.

“A moment” Nicole just shrugged at the words. “It’s hard to explain.”

“Well you better try!” Wynonna yelped and flicked Peacemaker in a way that told Nicole she did not like what she was hearing.

“I can’t” Nicole lifted her hand out to try and urge Wynonna to calm down. “I don’t even know what happened. We had an honest moment where…” She just shook her head as she tried to put it into words without actually admitting they had kissed. After a few seconds of thought she let out a defeated sigh “...it’s probably gonna sound like a line or something but your sister and I have some sort of deep connection that I can’t quite figure out.”

“Are you hitting on my sister?” Wynonna’s eyes darkened with an indescribable rage.

“No!” Nicole raised both hands between herself and Wynonna as she took a few steps backwards. “Trust me, Wynonna, romance is the last thing I think about. X-Division pretty much wiped all feelings and emotions right out of me!”

Wynonna narrowed her eyes as if she were trying to shoot lasers from them.

“I swear” Nicole shook her head and backed up again. “I am not supposed to feel anything other than a sense of duty. I kill zombies and save humans. That is what they have beat into me for years.”

“Not supposed to” Wynonna growled the words. “You said you’re not supposed to feel anything but you felt a connection with her?”

“Yeah” Nicole nodded very quickly and lowered her hands. “I don’t know what it means. All I know is I feel like a normal human being around her.”

“You keep your hands and your feelings to yourself” Wynonna snarled as she lowered Peacemaker. She stood with her chest puffed and her eyes still fixed on Nicole. “I don’t care about whatever connection you two have. Focus on the zombies and keeping my baby sister alive, you hear me?”

“Trust me I don’t want anything to happen to her” Nicole gave a single nod at her words. “I’d rather die than see her get hurt.”

“You promise?” Wynonna’s bite was still in her tone but her defensive stance had drooped a little.

“Promise” Nicole didn’t even hesitate.

“So if it comes down to it…” Wynonna arched an eyebrow as if challenging Nicole now “...you’ll die to save her? No matter what?”

“Without thinking about it” Nicole affirmed with another serious nod.

“I’ll fucking kill you” Wynonna hissed and she stood up a little straighter. “She is my world.”

“I promise nothing will happen to her” Nicole stepped toward Wyonna now, lifting a hand in an attempt to lay a calming touch to her shoulder. When Wynonna flinched away from her she just dropped her hand away and gave one more nod “You either, Wynonna. I’d die to save you just as I would Waverly.”

“Pfft, why?” Wynonna sputtered out a laugh at the thought.

“Because you’re the first actual friend I’ve made” Nicole shrugged and tried not to frown.

“Don’t go getting this twisted. We are not friends” Wynonna coughed the words and shook her head as if the idea was completely unsettling.

“Even so” Nicole rolled her eyes because she knew Wynonna was stubborn but she liked to think there was at least a small amount of fondness for her in the other woman. “I meant it. I’d save you even if it meant sacrificing my own life.”

Wynonna wasn’t sure she liked what Nicole was saying. Even more so she wasn’t sure she knew how to deal with what Nicole was saying. They barely knew one another. She still wasn’t sure she could completely trust the woman and yet here she was saying she would sacrifice herself if need be. They were putting their lives and their chance of survival all on a relative stranger and she had the audacity to say something like she would die for them. She was both comforted and unsettled by that at the same time.

“Just focus on the task at hand” Wynonna finally shook her racing thoughts from her mind and stepped away from Nicole. She moved over to all the things that Waverly had laid out and sat on the couch. She reached for a stack of papers and started to look through them.

“You don’t have to be scared all the time” Nicole spoke the words firmly but very softly so as not to impose her voice too harshly. She did not want to come off as pushy.

“You have no idea how I feel about anything” Wynonna mumbled without looking up from the paper she was studying. “You grew up in a safe place with all the means necessary to stay alive without trying. You might be trained for this but this is my actual life and I would appreciate it if you’d keep your opinions about what I should feel to yourself.”

“I know you don’t really care to hear what I have to say” Nicole scoffed, almost sounding offended, as she took a step toward the other women “But my life has never been rainbows and sunshine. I don’t have a family. I don’t have friends. I have duty and I have people I have been brainwashed to protect. I don’t have a choice in any of this, Wynonna. I never have.”

“So why should I believe you when you say we’re friends?” Wynonna glanced up with a challenging scowl curled into her expression. “Why should I believe you felt anything, a connection or whatever, toward my sister? We’re just another assignment to you. When this is all said and done you’re going to move onto the next and leave us behind.”

“You don’t know-”

“I do know” Wynonna shot up from where she stood and once more adopted her defensive stance. Her chest heaved a few times as anger started to seeth through her body “Everyone leaves us. I had to watch my family die and there was nothing I could do about it. They trusted a stranger and they paid the ultimate price. The last thing I want to do is to see Waverly have to go through that again.”

Nicole looked surprised by the sudden conviction in Wynonna’s tone.

Wynonna’s eyes fluttered and her voice softened slightly as emotion started to swell into her throat now “ So, no, we aren’t friends Nicole and you didn’t have a fucking moment with my sister, you got it? Because those things, those tiny things, mean the world to her and when they’re gone, when you move on, it is going to break her apart and I will not survive having to see her go through that all over again. Do you hear me?”

“I’m not going to leave you” Nicole’s voice barely managed to bubble from her throat. Maybe Waverly had unlocked something inside her or maybe it was both of the sisters that had the ability to make her feel. Either way, at that moment, she felt compassion. She felt sad. She gave her head a shake to try and push the feelings away but it barely worked. She cleared her throat and tried again anyway “We’re a team now, whether you like it or not, so I’m sticking around for good.”

Wynonna just rolled her eyes, mostly to push back the tears that had gathered, before turning away from Nicole. She moved back to the couch and took a seat. She did not look up. She instead reached for the paper she had been looking at and pretended to go back to studying it. She needed a moment to pull herself together. She had been so strong for so long and now the idea that all of this might be able to come to an end had really shaken her. She was fighting herself. She didn’t dare to trust that something good might actually happen to them for once.

Nicole watched Wynonna for a few moments. When she realized that the conversation was over, that Wynonna was done talking about it all, she gave a relenting nod of her head. She turned back toward the door so she could return to the barn for the night. She paused as she reached to open the door and looked back to the other woman on the couch. She quirked an eyebrow at her and cleared her throat to speak so she did not startle Wynonna “I’ll be standing watch in the barn if you need me.”

Wynonna glanced up when Nicole spoke. She looked her over for a moment and she thought for maybe just a second she saw the woman looking sad. That was weird. Anger, annoyance, and arrogance were the only things Wynonna had ever seen from Nicole up until this point. Maybe she had really meant what she had said, about sticking around. Something inside her seemed to tell her to stop being a stubborn dick at that moment. So, much to her own surprise, she motioned to the papers scattered all about the floor “I’m going to look all this shit over and come up with a plan.”

Now Wynonna had not technically spoken the invite directly to Nicole but she did not need to. Nicole got it. It was a small gesture, the tiniest of olive branches, but she would not hesitate to accept it. She gave a nod and removed her large trenchcoat, hanging it near the door, before she moved back across the living room and took a seat on the floor near a few stacks. She eyed it all for a moment then looked at Wynonna with a nod “What do you have in mind?”

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

Nicole gave Waverly a weak smile as she carefully pulled the burlap sack around Waverly’s hair. She did not cover her face yet, though. Instead she slid her fingers along the woman’s cheek gently as their eyes met “Don’t be afraid. You’re safe with me.”

“I’m not” Waverly gave her head a little shake, mostly into Nicole’s touch, as her eyes fluttered. The way Nicole was looking at her at that moment put all of her uncertainties at ease. She was terrified but she also trusted Nicole to keep her safe and that was overriding everything else at the moment.

“Remember” Wynonna stepped up to the other two, effectively breaking up the little moment they were sharing, and gave them a firm nod before focusing on her sister “I will be listening via the bug in your bra the entire time. If you sense any trouble at all just say the safe word and I will set off their perimeter alarm.”

“You have to give us time” Nicole nodded as her eyes shifted to look at Wynonna seriously. “You can’t get spooked and set off the alarm before we get everything in place.”

“Yeah yeah yeah” Wynonna flicked her hand to the side near Nicole’s face as if she were batting the words out of the air. “You have underestimated my ability to be patient.”

“You have zero ability to be patient” Waverly huffed out a laugh at that.

“Whatever” Wynonna rolled her eyes and stepped back. She let out a heavy sigh as she took a long look at her sister. Her eyes then shifted to Nicole and she shook her head just once “Don’t try to be a hero. If you’re overwhelmed, get the Hell out of there.”

“I know how to stick to a plan” Nicole rolled her eyes as well. She then looked at Waverly and her annoyance immediately faded. Her hand lifted and she gently slid her fingers along a piece of Waverly’s hair that was still peeking out from under the burlap “I have everything under control.”

Wynonna smacked Nicole’s hand and gave her a firm glare. She then shook her head and looked at her sister. Her face softened and she leaned in to gently place a kiss against Waverly’s forehead. She held it there for a moment before she pulled back. Her face was riddled with worry now and she gave a little nod “Don’t do anything I would do, okay?”

Waverly nodded quickly and she tried to smile at her sister but it fell flat. She reached out and gave a tight squeeze to her sister’s arm in silent reassurance that it was gonna be okay. She then looked back to Nicole, letting her gaze linger on the woman for a few seconds, before she reached for the end of the burlap sack that was tucked around her hair “Let’s do this.”

Nicole and Wynonna both watched Waverly pull the burlap over her face. Nicole glanced at Wynonna and gave a single nod to silently tell her she promised to protect Waverly with her life before she reached out and took hold of the rope that she would use to tie Waverly’s arms behind her back. “Are you ready?”

Waverly nodded but didn’t speak. She was trying to keep her breathing slow. The more she breathed the hotter it got under the sack and the more claustrophobic she became so she wanted to remain as calm as possible.

Wynonna stepped to the side and watched as Nicole started to lead Waverly away from their rendezvous point. Her stomach twisted into knots as she watched her sister move out of her reach. She hated that she would not be there to immediately save her if anything went wrong. After all these years of taking care of her it was unsettling for her to know that it was out of her hands at the moment. All she could do now was go to her hideout and wait for the signal. Hopefully there would be no signal. The signal meant there was trouble and for the first time in her life Wynonna Earp was hoping for absolutely no trouble at all.

“Whatever happens just let me do the talking” Nicole whispered to Waverly as they made their way toward the front gate of the factory. They knew that once they drew close enough they would be surrounded by zombies and wouldn’t have any more time to talk so now was the time to get out any last second questions. “Remember that you are terrified of me and to just go along with whatever I say. I might have to threaten you but I would never hurt you.”

“I know” Waverly finally spoke from under the burlap sack. She drew in a deep breath to calm her nervously racing heart and nodded so that Nicole could see it. “I trust you.”

“Good because it’s almost show time” Nicole whispered quickly, almost rushing the words out, before she straightened up and her eyes focused straight ahead of her. Within just a few seconds the first wave of scouts became visible and they all had their weapons drawn. 

“Hold it right there!” One of the zombies yelled out as soon as Nicole and Waverly were within ear shot.

Nicole gripped the rope at Waverly’s wrists tightly with one hand as the other lifted to show that she did not have a weapon. She took a few more steps before stopping in her tracks. Her eyes flickered this way and that, scanning their surroundings, before she focused on the zombie that had yelled at them “I wanna speak to Bobo.”

There was a round of soft laughter from all of the scouts that had surrounded them. The leader of the group smirked and gave his head a shake as he motioned for them all to quiet down. He pointed at Nicole with his knife and snorted slightly “You think you can just walk up here and start making demands? We know you threatened him. I also know he would let me move up the food chain if I brought him your head.”

“You could try” Nicole’s eyes once more shifted around where they stood. They were outnumbered four to one but she liked those odds and the smirk on her face said as much. As her eyes came back around to focus on the leader of the scouts she gave a single nod “But I think he would much rather prefer me alive. I have something he wants.”

“Fresh brains?” The leader motioned to the captive that Nicole had beside her.

“Even better” Nicole used her grip on the rope at Waverly’s wrists to push her forward slightly. “I bet he’d move you all up the food chain if he knew you were the ones that helped bring in the youngest Earp sister.”

There was a round of surprised mumbles from the rest of the group around them. The leader once more called for silence and with a skeptical look on his face he motioned to Waverly “What makes you think I'd believe that?”

Nicole reached up with her free hand and tugged the burlap sack off of Waverly’s head.

When a frantic and scared Waverly came into view, there was another round of gasps. A few zombies lifted their weapons a little higher and pointed them at her. 

“Now” Nicole motioned to Waverly with a triumphant smirk before giving her arm a flick toward the building that was looming a few hundred yards away. “Bobo, please.”

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

“Of course we searched them” One of the many zombies that surrounded Bobo snorted out indignantly.

“You are notorious for forgetting to give a pat down. The scientist nearly took my eye out with a pencil the first time I went in to rattle his cage so forgive me for making sure you weren’t still an idiot” Bobo barked, which made the zombie flinch with fear. He smirked triumphantly at that before his head slowly turned to look at his guests. He arched one eyebrow slightly as he examined the women standing before him. After a moment he pointed one of his long, painted fingernails at the both of them “Aren’t you the one who threatened me?”

“I had to get your attention” Nicole gave a shrug of her shoulders. She still had a hold of the rope at Waverly’s wrists. Both of her hands were tied loosely by a different rope that the zombies had applied as a way to keep her under control just in case she decided to start a fight.

Bobo’s nostrils flared. His eyes zipped around Nicole, then over Waverly, before returning to the taller of the two. A smirk moved over his lips and he motioned with his two middle fingers for her to come closer. He watched as his zombie goons used sticks to poke at Nicole until she took a few steps toward Bobo. Once she had reached a desirable distance from him he motioned to her entire being with the same long nailed finger he had used before “How is it that we can not smell you?”

“You’ve been a zombie long enough to know the answer to that” Nicole rolled her eyes and scoffed out a laugh as if the question was ridiculous. 

Bobo slammed his fist against the table he sat near and bared his teeth in an attempt to intimidate Nicole.

Waverly flinched away from Bobo but Nicole didn’t even blink. She just gave her head a bored shake at his antics “The zombie virus pumping through my veins is why you can’t smell me.”

“You’re a zombie?” Bobo straightened up with surprise. His head tilted to the side and his eyes once more moved over Nicole to examine her. When he spoke again his tone was even but held the smallest hint of delight “Here I thought you played for the other team.” He gave a motion to Waverly at the last of his words to really emphasize his pun.

Nicole just rolled her eyes and gave a firm tug of the ropes around Waverly’s wrists, flipping her forward, before giving a motion to her in a gesture of displaying her “Would I be presenting you with a gift if that were true?”

“I don’t really care about the Earp girl” Bobo gave a dismissive flick of his hand toward Waverly. “She’s the one without the gun. The only use I have for her is to bait the older one.”

“You won’t need bait” Nicole used her grip on Waverly’s wrists to turn her around. She motioned to the butt end of the replica Peacemaker that was sticking out of the top of Waverly’s waistband. “You have the gun, too.”

Bobo jumped up out of his seat and pointed with wide eyed wonderment at the gun. “I thought you said you gave her a pat down!”

“I wasn’t gonna touch it!” The zombie that had brought the women to Bobo stepped out of arm’s reach and gave a shake of his head.

“How do I know it’s-”

Nicole reached down with her free hand and grabbed hold of the handle of the gun. Of course it wasn’t real but she held it for a few seconds before she hissed out in pain and pulled her hand back sharply. She shook her hand a few times, gritted her teeth, then turned her palm to show Bobo the red burns on her skin “Do you wanna give it a go, too?”

Of course they had applied fake burns to her hand before setting out toward the factory. Nicole knew that the chance of Bobo not believing the gun was real was high so they had prepared the fake burns ahead of time so she could do what she had just done in order to sell the story.

Bobo’s eyes, still wide with awe, focused on Nicole’s hand for a moment. He then cocked his head to the side and focused on Waverly. A wicked smirk came to his lips and he nodded a few times excitedly “Oh how the fates have shined in my favor this dreary day. I must have been a bad, bad boy.” His eyes turned sharply to one of his nearby goons and his chin flicked toward Waverly slightly “Take her to the cages. You-” He whirled toward Nicole, lifting his hand in a point toward her, before his eyes slowly moved to find hers watching him. He used his pointed finger to gently slide his fingernail along Nicole’s chin “Why should I believe this is not simply a scheme to take me down?”

Nicole used her free hand to reach into her shirt. Everyone jumped back as if she were reaching for a gun. She paused her movements and focused her eyes unwaveringly on Bobo’s gaze “I have all the proof you need in my bra.”

Bobo’s eyebrow arched with interest as his eyes flickered to Nicole’s chest. “Do you need help fishing it free?”

“I’ll break your jaw” Nicole growled. The two of them held each other’s challenging gazes for a few seconds before Nicole shook her head. Her hand moved into her bra and she pulled out the little black leather wallet that held her badge. She flipped it open and turned it so that Bobo could read it “You really need to teach these idiots how to properly pat someone down.”

“X-Division?” Bobo’s eyes lit with an excited sort of recognition. The corners of his lips curled into a wicked smirk and he gave a satisfied nod at the badge. “Well, well, what a pleasant surprise indeed. Now-” He gestured sharply toward Waverly again “Lock her up while I have a little discussion about what to do with her.”

Waverly gave Nicole a panicked look as the zombies now tugged her free from Nicole’s grip.

“Don’t hurt her” Nicole pointed at the goons that were now surrounding Waverly in case she decided to fight back. She then shifted her point toward Bobo and nodded firmly “Or our deal is off.”

Bobo looked Nicole over slowly like he was trying to decide how sincere her threat was. After a moment of deliberation he nodded at his goons and shooed them away with a few flicks of his wrists “Not a hair on her pretty little head is to be touched until I say differently. Now away with you.”

Waverly’s eyes went wide at what Nicole had just said. They had gagged her once they brought her inside so she could not speak but the look in her eyes as she struggled against the zombies told Nicole that she had not liked what she had heard.

Nicole watched stone-faced as they drug a kicking Waverly from the room. She didn’t blink. She didn’t look away until the door to the room they were in had slammed closed. Once they were gone she slowly turned to look back at Bobo. She perked an eyebrow and motioned to a door behind where Bobo stood “I assume that is your office? Can we have a word in private?”

“Can’t wait to get me alone already?” Bobo smirked before he chomped his teeth together in a quick biting motion. He then gave a flick of his head backwards before turning toward the door. They moved together in silence and it wasn’t until they were alone with the door closed behind them that Bobo once more focused his eyes on Nicole. He took a moment to examine her once more. It was as if he were trying to look inside her, read her intentions, in an attempt to see the truth. He then blinked away his skeptical look and motioned to her “You have my attention.”

“Listen up you little shit” Nicole’s demeanor had changed. She was no longer playing like the victim willing to negotiate. She was now asserting herself and it showed in her body language as well as her tone. Her arms folded across her chest and she fixed Bobo with a fierce glare as she spoke through gritted teeth “I came here with a message from Agent Dolls. You are growing careless. If you don’t cease and desist immediately your food supply will be cut off permanently.”

Bobo straightened up where he stood. His playful swagger faded and he looked shocked at what he heard. He blinked a few times then motioned somewhere else vaguely behind him “I’ve tried to contact him for months now only to be met with silence. They want me to build a zombie army yet refuse to provide us enough food to keep from going mad and dying off. I had to capture a few…” He lifted his hands and wiggled his fingers back and forth a few times as amusement returned to his face “...intelligent humans to try and crack the scientific code behind the brain supplements they are sending in before my boys start to die and, thus, their army starts to dwindle.”

“I was sent here to tell you to stop” Nicole growled the words. They locked eyes and found themselves in a fierce staredown for a few seconds. Then Nicole blinked, shook her head, and waved her hand to the side. She motioned to the door they had come into the room through and gave a nod “Now do you want to hear my plan about using the Earp girls to negotiate for more food from X-Division or not?”

Wynonna, who had been listening with the bug she had planted in Nicole’s front pocket, gasped out at what she had just heard. “You traitorous bitch! I am going to kill you!”

~.~.~.~.~.~.


	8. Let my sister go by dawn or I’ll blow you all sky high

A few hours earlier...

_Waverly glanced up when she heard a knock on the door frame of her bedroom. When she saw that Nicole was standing there in the doorway she gave her a smile and motioned for her to enter the room._

_“I just got done showing Wynonna how all my gadgets work. I think she might actually almost kind of consider liking me now” Nicole laughed very gently as she moved to where Waverly was sitting on her bed. Her laughter faded, though, when she realized the other woman looked nervous. She bit her lip and slowly knelt in front of her, placing a hand on her knee, before speaking much more tenderly than she usually did “Are you sure you’re okay with this plan?”_

_“Yeah” Waverly drew in a deep breath and gave a single nod. Her eyes lifted and she looked at Nicole almost like she was searching her face for reassurance that this was the right thing to do. When she was met with a gaze filled with not only certainty, but genuine concern, she felt her heart flutter slightly. “I’m just worried about Wynonna.”_

_“Why?” Nicole did not ask it in a way that made it sound ridiculous but genuinely curious instead. She obviously did not know the woman like Waverly did so she had no reason to understand the worry at that moment._

_“I’m afraid she’s going to get antsy and do something reckless” Waverly chewed the inside of her cheek nervously. Her eyes fluttered before her gaze dropped to her hands in her lap “She hates this idea already. I know she would rather be in my place than standing outside the walls just waiting….” Her head shook as her eyes lifted to find Nicole watching her intently. She drew in another deep breath before speaking in a trembling voice “...I don’t want her to jump the gun.”_

_“You have a bug on you” Nicole nodded as her hand reached to gently take one of Waverly’s. “She will be able to hear everything going on around you. Let her know everything is alright once we get in there, okay?”_

_“How?” Waverly shrugged and gave her head another shake. “I can’t just say it out loud. They’ll figure out she’s listening.”_

_“I am sure you’ll think of something” Nicole stood now from her knee. She offered her hand to Waverly in an attempt to help her stand from the bed. As their eyes met again her lips curled into a tiny smile. “You two are sisters. I am sure even if you are speaking in code she will get the point.”_

_“Or she’ll barge in, guns blazing, quips blurting, and get herself killed” Waverly rolled her eyes with a laugh as she took Nicole’s hand. Once she was on her feet she did not pull from Nicole’s touch right away. She let her fingers linger inside Nicole’s surprisingly tender touch. She drew in a deep breath and once more lifted her eyes to find Nicole watching her. After a moment of the two of them gazing into each other’s eyes she shook her head and looked away “Are you sure this plan will work?”_

_“As sure as I can be” Nicole nodded as her eyes fell to watch Waverly’s touch slowly slide from her hand. She frowned slightly as she examined her now empty hand. She couldn’t be completely certain but she thought that, just for a second, her skin tingled where Waverly’s touch had moved across her palm._

_She shook the thought off and lifted her eyes to see Waverly pulling on her coat. She gave one nod then motioned to the doorway of the room “Just remember our plan, okay? No matter what happens we have to stick to it.”_

_“Yeah, I know” Waverly moved toward the doorway but stopped to allow Nicole to catch up. She turned toward the woman, placing a hand on her arm to gain her attention. When her eyes lifted to see Nicole’s curious look there was a sense of desperation behind them “Promise me, if she storms in to try and save me, that you’ll protect her over me.”_

_“Waverly, I’m not-”_

_“Please” Waverly’s voice cracked as the plea left her lips._

_Nicole just shook her head at that. She didn’t want to make that promise because, honestly, she had promised Wynonna she would save Waverly over her. But after a moment of looking into Waverly’s eyes that were screaming for her to agree, she finally gave a nod “You got it. If things go South I’ll get her out first.”_

_Waverly’s lips barely managed to curl up into a smile. She lifted onto her toes and placed a very tender brush of a kiss to Nicole’s cheek. Without another word she moved from the room and headed downstairs to finish last minute preparations with Wynonna._

_Nicole lifted her hand to her cheek and again, only for a second, she could swear her skin tingled at the feel of the kiss. A smile flickered for a moment on her lips before dying away. She hoped after all was said and done she would get the chance to feel that sensation again. The only thing that guaranteed her a chance was their plan going off without a hitch. That seemed easier said than done._

With a shake of her head, Nicole pushed the memory from earlier that morning out of her mind as she stared at the small bug she held in her hand. Bobo had gone to torment Waverly in her cage. She had been left alone, albeit in a locked room, with one guard watching her from the other side of the room, in case she decided to try anything funny. She sat now at the table that was in the room, twirling the small listening device between her fingers. 

She had suspected that when Wynonna had casually, but not subtly, handed over her trenchcoat before they headed out that there was a bug in her pocket. She had left Wynonna alone with all of her X-Division surveillance items when she had gone to speak with Waverly. She would have been surprised if she hadn’t found a bug because she would have done the same thing if the circumstances were reversed. 

She knew now Wynonna had heard the deal she had made with Bobo. She knew without a shadow of a doubt the woman was already planning her vengeance. There was nothing she could do about it. So she set the tiny device on the top of the table and pressed her thumb against it until it crumbled beneath her touch.

“That got my blood pumping in all the right places!” Bobo clapped his hands gleefully as he burst into the room with a thunderous kick to the door. He was smiling ear to ear as he focused on Nicole. He pointed at her now then motioned with a flick of his entire hand for her to come toward him “Let us discuss how we will bait the trap to catch the other Earp.”

Nicole didn’t stand. She just stared at Bobo with a bored look. She gave her head a shake before motioning now to the door behind where Bobo was standing “Is there a reason you felt the need to lock me up?”

“Precautions, my precious” Bobo’s eyebrows flinched in amusement on his forehead. “I did not want you sneaking out and starting a riot while I was playing with my new toy.”

Nicole’s stomach twisted in disgust. The idea that Bobo considered Waverly his toy made her nauseous. Her head shook and she stood from the table “If you want me to cooperate with you then you are going to have to treat me as an equal partner.” She motioned to the walkie talkie radio that sat on the table and shrugged “I am the only one that knows how to contact HQ and get the negotiations for food started. If you want to save your men then you have to trust me.”

“If you don’t cooperate” Bobo’s voice husked with a bit of anger now as his eyes narrowed on Nicole “Then I kill you, the girl, all the humans, then march my army toward the next town. I keep going until we reach your precious headquarters and then…” His tongue swept over his lips and his upper lip twitched into a hint of a smirk “...we take them out, too.”

“You’d be wiped off the map before sundown if you tried that” Nicole rolled her eyes.

“You sound sure of that. But…” Bobo’s hand flipped in a gesture toward the walkie talkie then up to Nicole. He had a bit of a wickedly amused glint in his eyes “I have been assured that I will be greatly compensated for my work in recruiting, turning, and training a zombie hoard in the name of X-Division.”

Nicole’s jaw set. She hated that Bobo was so confident in himself and the deal he had made with her boss. She had no leverage, it seemed. So she decided to play nice. If she ever wanted to return home she had to play along. She gave a roll of her eyes then motioned to Bobo in a sort of halfway obedient bow “Fine. But you don’t need to lock me up. Let me at least help train the newborns until the rations arrive.”

Bobo eyed Nicole skeptically for a few moments. Then an eyebrow arched on his forehead and he dipped his head in a long nod “I’ve heard your fighting is unmatched. If you agree to contact headquarters at the earliest possible time then I will release you..” His hands moved in circles away from one another as his fingers wiggled, almost like he were symbolizing freedom, as a smirk lifted on his lips.

“Great” Nicole moved around the table now and reached for the walkie talkie. She showed it to him in an overly enthusiastic way, so he was sure to see it, before she rolled her eyes and stormed past him.

“Where are you going?” Bobo whirled around and grabbed Nicole by the arm to stop her from leaving.

“You just released me” Nicole growled as her arm ripped from his touch with ease. It was easy to tell she could overpower him if she wanted to. “I can’t call until a certain time” She lifted the radio to once more emphasize the deal they had made “Until then I am going to make myself familiar with this place. Who knows how long it’ll be until they come fish me out of his shit hole.”

Bobo lifted the hand he had tried to stop Nicole with and wiggled his fingers as if he were waving goodbye. He watched her storm away and once she was out of earshot he turned to two of his goons and motioned to her with a nod “I want someone on her at all times. If you think she might be playing double agent then you slit her throat and bring me her head.”

~.~.~.~.~.~.

“HQ come in. HQ come in. Haught reporting. Please respond” The walkie talkie tucked into Wynonna’s waistband went off suddenly. It caused her to jump because, well, she had been sitting in silence up a tree where she was plotting how she was going to storm into the factory to rescue her sister and kill Nicole.

“Please respond. Progress made with the colony. Report to follow” The walkie talkie barked again when Wynonna had not answered the first time. She wasn’t sure she was supposed to. Was Nicole really trying to contact X-Division and she just so happened to be on that channel?

She pulled the radio from her waistband and held it near her ear. She turned the volume down so that the noise would not attract any zombies that may be nearby. After a long pause of nothing else she perked an eyebrow at the speaker. Maybe X-DIvision wasn’t there. Nicole had said they only answered at specific times.

“Earp” A whisper came through the speaker after a few more moments of silence.

Wynonna felt her heart leap into her throat. She blinked in surprise at the radio before she shook her head and pressed the button to talk back. She wasn’t sure what to say. She was frozen with the speaker held to her mouth, breathing into it like a creep for a few seconds, before she regained her senses and hissed out the words “I’m going to fucking kill you.”

“All is well, HQ” Nicole’s voice came back a little louder than before which made Wynonna sit up straight in surprise. She looked completely confused as she stared at the walkie talkie she held. She had no clue what the Hell Nicole was doing. 

She waited again for Nicole to say something. When there was another long pause she shook her head and motioned in frustration to the small device “What the fuck is going on?” She whispered as if it could answer. Just as she was about to lift the speaker to her mouth, Nicole spoke again.

“Your sister is safe. Stand by. Don’t do anything stupid. I’m sorry, I have to go.”

“You have to go?” Wynonna nearly shouted into the speaker out of sheer surprise. Her head was swirling. She had no idea what was happening. This had not been in the plan. She stared in horror at the radio for a long time, a minute or more, just waiting for something she could understand to come from it. When she was met with silence she let out a grunt and swung her fist forward out of complete frustration. She punched a tree branch next to her and immediately hissed with pain. She put her hand into her mouth and growled around the throbbing.

She had no idea what was going on and it was driving her crazy. The bug that Waverly was wearing had either been taken or wasn’t working because she hadn’t heard anything from it since Bobo had been tormenting her sister an hour earlier. That had been nearly enough to send her charging in without any regard for anything else. But she knew that would only end up with the zombies killing her sister. She had to figure out a way to get in undetected. She didn’t know how, though. She also had no idea if Nicole was still on their side. She let out a sigh and closed her eyes as she fell slack against the tree where she sat. At the moment she felt completely helpless.

~.~.~.~.~.

Waverly had been sitting in her cage silently. She had been gagged by some of the goons when they drug her away so she couldn’t have spoken even if she tried. She was doing her damndest to get free of the gag, of the ropes tying her wrists, but she had yet to find a way to wiggle her way to freedom. Her eyes hadn’t stopped moving around the room since they closed her cage door. She was taking in all the information about her surroundings as she could. If she managed to get free she would need a plan of escape. She knew she stood no chance of getting out if she just ran for it. So she studied shift changes and the places that no one seemed to watch. She studied it all so she would be prepared when the time came.

Hours passed. Maybe it had been a day, maybe not. It was hard to tell. There were no windows in the room with the cages. The only light came from fires held in barrels scattered about the room. It was funny, Waverly thought, that they were burning barrels of tar as a means of light and heat. Those barrels were the exact things she planned to use to blow up the factory and take the zombies out for good.

A door opened at the other end of the long room where the cages were kept. Waverly sat up and strained her eyes to try and make sense of who was coming. It wasn’t time for the zombies to switch places yet, at least she didn’t think so. Time was an illusion at the moment.

“Hands off” Nicole’s voice broke through the relative silence of the dim room. 

“You ain’t supposed to be in here” A gruff voice of an unseen zombie was heard now.

There was some shifting around the room as the prisoners moved in their cages. They hated when someone visited the room. It either meant they were about to be tortured or someone was about to die. Neither option was favorable and the nervous tension rose as everyone watched Nicole come into the room.

“I am here on direct orders from Bobo” Nicole barked at the smaller zombie. “I need to speak to one of the humans.”

“I ain’t heard nothing ‘bout that” The other zombie snarled.

“Go ask him yourself” Nicole motioned behind her before barging past him and marching into the room. As her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting of the room she felt her heart sink. There were more cages than she had initially thought. She knew they had prisoners but this was unexpected. There were several dozen cages and they all seemed to be occupied.

“Watch her” The other zombie barked to one of his companions that was slowly pacing through the room, between cages, keeping a watchful eye on the prisoners.

Nicole rolled her eyes as she marched her way toward Waverly. She moved quickly, her eyes moving about the room as she went, taking stock of everything around her. When she reached Waverly’s cage she glanced over her shoulder to see the second zombie eyeing her from about fifty feet away. She sighed and looked back at Waverly carefully. When their eyes met, her gaze was soft, and she barely flinched her head in a nod before quickly scowling and speaking roughly toward her “Tell me where your sister is and you won’t get hurt.”

Waverly thought for a split second that everything was alright when she saw the way Nicole looked at her. Then she was yelling and threatening her and her eyes went wide with panic. She scrambled away from the side of the cage that Nicole stood at and shook her head feverishly.

“Don’t fight it will only make it worse” Nicole hissed the words and moved over to the other side of the cage quickly. She reached in and took hold of one of Waverly’s elbows before she could scurry away. She tugged at her fiercely, causing her back to slam into the bars behind her, before she leaned in and growled loudly in her ear “Tell me where she is or I’ll start cutting off fingers.”

The zombie that had been tasked with watching over Nicole smirked at that. He seemed impressed with her tactics.

Waverly again shook her head feverishly. She tried desperately to tug free of Nicole’s grip but that was a losing battle. Nicole was too strong.

Nicole reached her other hand inside the cage. She took hold of Waverly’s pinkie and gave it a tug. She glanced up when Waverly started to thrash about and scream in pain. When she saw the zombie that was watching her start to laugh she gave him a satisfied smirk. Her focus then turned back to Waverly and she released her by pulling both hands back overdramatically as if to show that she was now free. “I’ll be back nine more times” She warned, using the severed finger she held to point at Waverly with a nod “I really hope you change your mind by then.”

As Nicole moved back through the room she was met with a few impressed laughs from the other zombies scattered throughout the area.

Waverly fell back against the cage and cradled her hand tightly against her back. She dropped her head forward and started to sob.

The zombie that had been watching Nicole moved now toward the cage. He used the butt end of the gun he held to slam against the bars. When Waverly’s tear streaked face looked over at him he gave her a smirk “Bet you feel real dumb having trusted one of us. You’re as smart as your daddy was. I knew sooner or later we’d get ya.”

He cackled as he walked away and Waverly pulled her arms more tightly against her back. She cradled her hand behind herself for several minutes. She waited until silence fell over the room again before she lifted her head and looked this way and that to ensure no zombies were around. Then she sat up straight and a smirk came to her lips. Nicole had succeeded in slipping her a small pocket knife and a crumpled piece of paper. On that paper was a hastily drawn map directing Waverly to the supply closet where she would find everything she needed to rig the barrel bombs.

She quickly used the knife to saw through the ropes and free her hands before reaching into her bra to retrieve the bug that she had put there so that Wynonna could hear what was going on. She eased the gag out of her mouth, looked around again to make sure no one was around, before she whispered quickly into the small device “Wynonna, I’m alright.”

Wynonna, who had been listening to what had unfolded when Nicole came into the room, immediately broke down into tears when she heard her sister’s voice. She had been just moments away from setting off the perimeter alarm and storming the factory. Now, though, a sense of relief washed over her and she couldn’t help the tears that flowed from her eyes. She hated not knowing what was happening. She wished she could reach out to her sister, to talk to her, ask her what the Hell was happening, but she knew that wasn’t possible. Still, she clung to the little black speaker that was receiving the transmission from Waverly’s bug as if it were Waverly herself.

“I’m going to need a distraction” Waverly whispered into the bug after a few minutes. She glanced around, straining her eyes against the darkness to make sure the guards were not near her. When she was sure the coast was clear she whispered again “Set off the perimeter alarm at dawn. I’ll meet you at our rendezvous point within an hour after. If I don’t show up, please, don’t come in after me. Get back to the Homestead.”

“No, babygirl! Fuck no!” Wynonna yelled at the speaker in horror when she heard what her sister had said. She shook her head fiercely, the speaker trembling in her hands, and she again felt tears surge out of her. “I’m not leaving you.”

“Please” Waverly spoke as if she knew exactly what her sister had just said.

“Babygirl, no!” Wynonna sobbed the words out as she tried to blink away the tears pouring out of her. She wiped at her eyes and shook her head. She stared at the speaker as if it were Waverly’s face. She waited to hear more. She waited a few minutes in silence. She shook the speaker as if that would somehow help. When nothing more came she sobbed out again and hugged the speaker to her chest. She hated this. She hated having zero control over the fate of her sister. She wanted to be there by her side, making sure she was safe. She would do anything to be there.

But all she could do now was wait. She had to wait for sunrise. After that she had to wait for an hour to see if her sister would make it out. She knew this would be the longest night of her life but she had no other choice. It was the first time in her entire life she had felt true, unadulterated fear. She was terrified. The thought that she had said goodbye to her sister for the last time was eating her alive. This had to work. If it didn’t there would be nothing stopping her from storming in and killing as many zombies as she could before they took her out. She didn’t care. If she didn’t have Waverly then she had nothing to live for.

~.~.~.~.~.

Two more visits from Nicole brought two more vital tools for Waverly. On the first visit, when Nicole pretended to cut off Waverly’s ring finger, she slipped her a few hair pins. These would aid in Waverly’s escape. She would use them to pick the lock on her cage. That was the easy part of the plan. She could pick a lock in under a minute and having studied the lock on her cage she knew for sure it would not be a challenge.

The second visit had been a little more challenging for Nicole to manage. That had required her to steal the replica Peacemaker that the zombies had taken from Waverly and given to Bobo. They had wrapped it up in a thick blanket so they could handle it safely without it burning their skin. Bobo kept it near him at all times. The only time he ever let it out of his sight was when he went into the makeshift science lab they had set up in order to try and replicate brain matter so they could have food. He left it on a guarded table just outside the door because Jeremy, their scientist, insisted that any foreign objects could interfere with the machinery. He had honestly just wanted to avoid giving Bobo or anyone else the chance to beat him with a weapon of any sort.

It had worked out in Nicole’s favor that the scientist had made that rule. Once she realized that was the only time Bobo let the fake gun out of his sight she knew that was when she had to make her move. He visited with the scientist hourly to check his progress even though Jeremy had, more than once, advised him that constant interruptions would only slow his work down. Thankfully Bobo was impatient and growing hungrier by the minute.

Nicole asked to go with Bobo to see the operation they had going. She told him that, being a super soldier created by X-Division, she was fairly familiar with the work they had done at headquarters to produce nutritional food rations for the humans and she thought if she got a look into what they were doing here she might be able to help. That was all a complete lie but Bobo’s desperation was easy prey for her and he had taken the bait.

She was standing just outside the door to the lab after her visit. Bobo was inside, taking his time harassing Jeremy a bit more to remind him he needed to hurry. The zombie standing guard over Peacemaker was smirking to himself at what he could hear coming from just inside the door. Nicole archeded an eyebrow at that. Zombies were cruel. They loved torturing humans. It disgusted her.

“I think he just called for you” Nicole said suddenly and pointed into the room.

The guard looked at her curiously then shook his head “Didn’t hear nothing.”

“You sure?” Nicole eyed him up and down, almost daring him to disagree with her. “I’m the one with genetically modified hearing. You might wanna poke your head in and check.”

Word about the super zombie that X-Division had created coming to the factory had spread like wildfire. Most of the zombies were glad she had arrived because it meant their food supply was probably on the way, too. Some of them were annoyed that she had gained Bobo’s favor so quickly. None of them dared challenge her, though. They didn’t want to die, or worse, piss Bobo off.

When the guard decided to check and see if Bobo had called for him Nicole knew she had to move fast. As soon as his back was turned she fished out the wad of blankets she had stuffed down the front of her pants and quickly swapped it with the wad of blankets that were wrapped around Peacemaker. She stuffed the fake gun quickly down her pants and pulled her shirt over the bulge just as the guard zombie stepped back out of the door. “Your fancy hearing ain’t working too well cause Bobo ain’t said shit to me.”

“My bad” Nicole shrugged casually as she pulled the front of her trenchcoat around herself tightly. 

“Let’s go” Bobo stepped out of the lab then reached for the mess of blankets that he thought still contained the only weapon that could kill him. He tucked it under his arm then motioned for Nicole to move before he walked by her in a huff. Jeremy, unsurprisingly, had yet to find a way to replicate brain matter.

“When you called headquarters what did they say?” Bobo growled as he stepped into his private office and threw the blankets concealing the crowbar that Nicole had wrapped up onto his desk. He whirled around and stared at Nicole with a sense of impatient anger boiling behind his eyes “My men are starving and there are no more humans around for hundreds of miles.”

“They should be here by dawn” Nicole shrugged casually. She had not settled in a chair. She stood near the door with her hands shoved firmly in her coat pockets to help hide the bulge of blankets in her pants. “I can’t attempt to contact them again for another few hours but as soon as I can, I will get a status update.”

“If you’re lying!” Bobo growled and stormed over to Nicole in a few quick steps. He put his face right up next to hers, their noses touching, the anger in his eyes burned hotter as he scowled at her.

“You going to kill me?” Nicole was not intimidated. Instead she gave him a cocky smirk and used her forehead to not so gently push his head away from her. Bobo hissed in pain and grabbed the spot where she had practically head butted him away. Her satisfied smirk only grew. She knew no one in the colony stood a chance against her in a one on one fight.

“Leave!” Bobo barked at her as he backed away and motioned toward the door. “Go take another finger from the Earp girl! We need her sister. We need more leverage!”

Nicole gave a sarcastic salute that turned into her flipping Bobo off before she turned and left the room. She marched down the hallway toward where they held the prisoners. She stopped before reaching that door, though. Instead she ducked into one of the empty rooms and closed the door behind her. She worked quickly to unwrap the fake Peacemaker she had stolen and slipped it up the long sleeve of her coat. She then reached into the inside pocket on the other side of her coat and fished out the zombie hand she had been ripping fingers off of in place of Waverly’s actual hand. She popped off the middle finger, tucked it just inside the cuff of her right sleeve, then hid the rest of the hand in her pocket. 

That was how Nicole had been getting information and tools to Waverly. She would slip them into her sleeve or hide them in the palm of her hand and quickly hand it over to the other woman while she pretended to rip her fingers off. The other zombies were so amused by her antics that none of them thought to check her work. They just cackled at her and praised her for being so gruesome. Nicole felt kind of bad, honestly. The zombies were all so stupid it was almost pathetic.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

It was late now, Waverly was sure of it. Nicole’s last visit, which had brought her fake Peacemaker, had been hours ago. Most of the prisoners were asleep around her. The scientist had returned to his cage next to her so she knew it was at least after dinner. The zombies that were tasked with moving about the room had instead decided to take naps and were settled in chairs at different points around the room. This was it. She had to move quickly.

She had picked her lock hours ago. As soon as she was sure the zombies were asleep she carefully slipped from her cage and moved silently to the cage next to her. She caught eyes with the startled looking scientist and quickly lifted her finger to her lips to indicate she wanted him to stay quiet. She then showed him the hairpins, motioned to the lock, and gave a nod before going to work.

Within just a few minutes she had several of the locks around her popped open. She silently told each prisoner to stay but indicated that the lock was open. She somehow managed to communicate that there would be a time for them to escape but they had to wait. Most of them seemed alright with waiting. A few silently pleaded for her to release them right away but after a few hushed whispers of their plan the impatient ones settled down.

Waverly worked on as many locks as she could as quickly as she could but she knew she was running out of time. She had to escape the room now, while the zombies were asleep, if she had any hope of getting to the supply room to set up the barrel bombs. She let out a heavy sigh as she looked around the room. She hadn’t unlocked nearly enough cages.

Then the prisoner inside the cage she was working on grabbed her hands. When Waverly looked up in surprise she was met with a pair of calm brown eyes and a nodding head. The girl inside smiled then motioned to the pins that Waverly held. She motioned for Waverly to give her the pins and after a moment of hesitation she did so cautiously.

The girl worked quickly and picked the lock on her cage, much to Waverly’s surprise. The woman then slipped quietly from her cage and knelt near Waverly. She waved the pins she held then motioned around the room, telling her she would continue picking the locks so that Waverly could get out of there. 

Waverly gave an excited nod at the woman then quickly moved by her to go back to the scientist’s cage. She opened it slowly and once more lifted her finger to her mouth to remind him to be quiet. After getting a confused and panicked look from the man she motioned for him to follow. He hesitated for a few moments before finally giving in. What did he have to lose? Bobo was going to kill him in a few days anyway.

Slowly the two of them walked in a crouch through the row of cages toward the door at the end of the long room. Waverly bit her lip nervously as they approached the sleeping zombie that was stationed near the door. She wondered if they would be able to slip out without being noticed or waking him up. They had no other choice, really. So after taking a few deep breaths to steady her nerves she reached for the handle.

Just then the door was ripped open from the outside. Waverly turned and pushed Jeremy backwards into one of the darkened corners of the room. She slapped a hand over his mouth then turned her eyes toward the door, watching to see who had just entered the room.

“Shift change! Wake up you useless shits” The zombie that had just barged into the room yelled out and effectively startled every single being, human and zombie alike, in the room.

There was a grumbling heard about the room as the sleeping zombies woke. They shuffled about to get to their feet so the new wave of zombies could come in and the old wave could leave. Waverly let out a heavy sigh. They were stuck. There was no way they’d be able to sneak out with at least ten zombies standing near the door. Hopefully the new wave of guards wouldn’t move along the rows of cages or they’d realize there were two missing prisoners.

She watched in horror as the new wave of zombies immediately started to move down the rows of cages, banging against them, checking to see if the humans inside were still alive. Her heart started to pound against her chest as panic set in. Her cage was near the middle of the room. She knew that within just a few seconds they would reach the empty cage and all Hell would break loose. She had no idea what she was going to do. They were caught. Their plan had failed. This was it.

“Listen up, dickbags” A thunderous voice suddenly crackled over the loudspeaker system that was wired throughout the entire factory. It had, before the outbreak, been a functioning factory which used the loud speaker to make announcements throughout the day.

“Wynonna?” Waverly whispered as her ear turned up toward the speaker as if trying to make out if it was her sister’s voice she had just heard.

“This is Wynonna Earp and you have my baby sister. Here’s the deal. I’ve already tapped into your communications system which means I am somewhere inside the factory. If you can find me, you can have me.”

“That’s not Wynonna” Waverly perked an eyebrow and looked at Jeremy as if he had answers even though he was staring at her completely dumbfounded.

“Let my sister go by dawn or I’ll blow you all sky high.”

“Nicole?” Waverly blinked as she recognized the voice. She was trying to disguise her voice and do her best Wynonna impression but it wasn’t really working. Luckily none of the zombies had really ever heard Wynonna speak. They seemed to be buying it.

“She’s here? What do we do?” The zombies in the room had all gathered near the door to listen to the message. 

“Have a good night you ass clowns.” The speaker above cut out with a loud screeching sound that echoed through the entire building and caused everyone to cover their ears.

As the sound faded and everyone uncovered their ears the zombies started to panic. “Let’s go find Bobo.”

Without thinking about it they all rushed out of the room together leaving behind the room full of prisoners. This surprised Waverly. These zombies really were idiots. She waited for a few seconds to make sure that they were really alone before she rushed out of the shadows toward the door. She turned to look into the dimly lit room and spoke softly to the first few people in the cages at the front of the room “Spread the word. As soon as the perimeter alarm goes off you guys run, okay? To the North near where the trees open to the lake.”

As the message started to spread from cage to cage Waverly turned and grabbed hold of Jeremy’s hand “You’re coming with me.”

“Wait, what?” Jeremy shook his head and pulled away from Waverly. “I don’t know what is happening. Who are you?”

“I’ll explain later. I need your help” Waverly reached for his hand again but would not take it without his permission this time. She fixed him with a calm gaze and nodded just once “I have a plan.”

Jeremy hesitated for a moment again before letting out a heavy sigh. He reached for Waverly’s hand and gave a nod “Sure, why not, sounds like I’m dead in the next day or so anyway.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it” Waverly grinned and gave a tug to his hand before pushing the door to the room open. She looked both directions to make sure it was clear before quickly leading Jeremy down the hallway to an empty room a few doors down. 

This is how they moved, a few doors at a time, Waverly checking her map at each stop, until they reached the supply room. Once the door was closed and locked behind them she let out a heavy sigh. She then started to dig the blueprints for the barrel bombs out of her bra as she gave Jeremy a smile “You’re going to help me wire a bomb big enough to blow up the state of Texas.”

“What?” Jeremy’s eyes got as round and white as a baseball.

“Here” Waverly smiled calmly as she handed over her blueprint. She then dug fake Peacemaker from her waistband and started to pop off the cover of the hidden compartment where all the wiring had been stashed. She gave a nod at the panicked looking scientist she had rescued and gave a soft laugh “Do those plans make sense?”

“Well, yeah” Jeremy let out a huff as his eyes scanned the plan he had been given. “It’s actually really basic. I can’t believe I never thought of it.”

“I’m Waverly, by the way” She extended her hand for a handshake.

“Jeremy” He took her hand and gave it a shake. For just a brief moment they shared a smile which served to remind them why they were doing this. They were fighting for each other, side by side, to save whatever remained of humanity.

“Alright, Jeremy” Waverly’s smile faded and she returned to business. She motioned to the paper he held then dropped all of the wiring she had meticulously stuffed in every hollow crevice of the replica gun. She motioned to it then looked at him with a nod “You ready to blow these ass munchers to Neptune?”

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.


	9. Stop blubbering about it and Earp the Hell up

“How did you guys find us?” Jeremy asked in a panicked tone as he quickly looked back and forth between the plans for the detonator and the pieces Waverly had smuggled in.

“A friend” Waverly grunted out as she pried another lid off one of the fuel barrels in the room.

“The same one that kept coming in and ripping off your fingers?” Jeremy glanced up at Waverly with a little smirk “That was genius, by the way.”

Waverly let out a soft laugh and nodded in agreement as she moved to the next barrel “Luckily for us we gravely underestimated how stupid these guys are. Makes me wonder if all zombies are idiots or if Bobo has just been recruiting the dumbest of the dumb.”

“A little bit of both, I think” Jeremy nodded as he twisted some wires together then double checked the plans to make sure he had done it right. “You know I’m not really an electrician so I can’t confidently say that this is going to work.”

“But you’re a doctor?” Waverly arched an eyebrow in questioning as she set another lid on the ground.

“Lab technician” Jeremy shrugged meekly. “I work with blood tests and finding cures for diseases and stuff like that.”

“Oh…” Waverly chewed her lip for a moment, thinking it over, before shrugging causally. “Well I did my research and I think as long as we follow the directions we have a good chance of making this place go boom!”

“That’s good enough for me,” Jeremy laughed then went back to focusing on what he was doing.

They worked quietly for a few minutes. Jeremy focused on following each instruction to the letter while Waverly huffed and puffed as she pried all the lids off of the barrels. It was slow going but luckily Nicole had created enough of a distraction that it didn’t seem like the zombies had noticed they were gone.

Suddenly there was a bang as the door to the room they were in was kicked open.

Jeremy and Waverly both screamed out in fright.

“Shit, sorry” Nicole looked immediately apologetic as she closed and locked the door behind her. “It’s chaos out there so you guys better hurry up.” She let out a grunt as she reached for one of the many heavy metal shelving units in the room and slid it over until it was blocking the doorway. She then turned around and gave the others in the room a nod “Are you close?”

“I think so” Jeremy’s voice squeaked the words out due to panic and nervousness coursing through him. When he realized what had happened he quickly cleared his throat, gave his head one shake, and tried again “Um, I think so.”

“The doctor?” Nicole perked an eyebrow at Waverly while motioning to Jeremy.

“I figured he could help” Waverly shrugged and moved to the next barrel. “Here, help me finish taking off the lids.”

“I’m not a doctor” Jeremy clarified again as he furiously twisted wires together.

“Doesn’t matter” Waverly waved it off and beckoned Nicole over to her. She offered the woman a smile as she drew closer then gave a nod to the barrel she stood near “Almost done and then we can wire them all.”

“How are you holding up?” Nicole whispered as she set her eyes on Waverly tenderly.

“I have all my fingers if that’s what you mean” Waverly smirked in amusement at herself.

Jeremy laughed. He then realized he had done so and looked panicked once more as he glanced at the women “Sorry, I wasn’t eavesdropping. It’s a big, quiet room and the sound carries very easily.”

“It’s fine Jeremy” Waverly laughed softly then looked at Nicole. Their eyes met and in that moment they shared a look that said more than any words could. She was alright, but she was scared. Most importantly, though, she was glad Nicole was there.

They worked in silence for a few minutes again now that Nicole had brought a sense of urgency into the room. Soon they had the barrel bombs wired the best they could with what they had. They knew that once they detonated the barrels they had wired that the others nearby would ignite as well. Hopefully that was enough to level the factory to the ground.

“Light the fuel” Waverly nodded to Nicole as she quickly motioned for Jeremy to move away with her toward the back door. “We won’t have long to detonate once the fuel is lit.”

“Go” Nicole nodded firmly as she pulled out a lighter she had found in the supply room. “I’ll catch up.”

“Nicole, no” Waverly’s brows creased together in protest.

“Go, Waverly. Get to safety” Nicole made it clear there was no room for arguing the point. “Wynonna is waiting for you and the sooner you get there, the better. I am sure she is at her tipping point of patience right now.”

Waverly knew Nicole was right. It had to be killing her sister to be left in the dark for so long. But her heart twisted around itself at the thought that Nicole might not make it out alive. She could see the stern, unwavering certainty in Nicole’s eyes, though, so she finally relented with a nod “Fine, but hurry.”

“Right behind you” Nicole’s tone was even but the smile that crept across her face was filled with relief. She kept her eyes on Waverly until both her and Jeremy slipped out of the room through the back door. On her map that Nicole had drawn for Waverly she had included an escape route from the supply room and with the main door blocked that was the only way out. She just hoped it wasn’t filled with panicked zombies searching for Wynonna.

“Wait, wait, wait” Waverly hissed out in a whisper as she and Jeremy reached the end of a corridor. She slowly peeked around the corner to check if the coast was clear. Once she saw that it was safe, she turned back and offered him a nod “Let’s go.”

“Shouldn’t we go back for the others?” Jeremy motioned to somewhere vaguely behind himself.

“There’s no time” Waverly frowned and took hold of Jeremy’s arm to pull him along behind her as she moved. “I am sure that everyone fled as soon as we did, though. I spread the word to wait for the distraction before leaving their cages.”

“What if some of them didn’t get out?” Jeremy’s tone was growing more worried as they rushed around corners and ducked into dark doorways.

“Jeremy” Waverly stopped so she could turn and face him. She saw the concern in his eyes and she felt her stomach knot up. She knew the feeling. She wanted to save as many people as possible but at this point there was no more time left to ensure that their plan had worked. She had to have faith that the others got out. “They got out, okay? You just have to believe it.”

“What if-”

“Shhhhh” Waverly slapped a hand over his mouth when she heard a few voices rising in the hallway. She quickly pushed him into the dark room nearest to where they had been crouched and pressed their backs against the wall. She drew in a deep breath and held it tightly while she waited and hoped that they passed them by.

“Fuckin’ Earp bitch got Bobo all twisted up. He’s threatening to kill his own men if she ain’t found soon” One of the voices rose above the others as they approached.

“And that super zombie soldier bitch disappeared. I knew we shouldn’t have trusted her” A second voice chimed in now.

“How ‘bouts we stop bitching and find them and kill ‘em ourselves” A third voice came in now. The words seemed to be convincing enough and as the three zombies rounded the corner into the next corridor there was a cheer of agreement from the other two.

Waverly exhaled in relief and glanced at Jeremy. When she saw him frozen in fear she pulled his arm and motioned for him to follow “Come on, we’re almost out of here.”

There was a whine of protest but Jeremy didn’t have time to say much more because Waverly tugged him so hard he almost tripped and fell. Luckily her grip on him kept him up and moving alongside her. They spent the next couple minutes dodging from room to room until they finally found the exit that would lead them outside and toward the rendezvous point where Wynonna was hopefully waiting with a group of other escapees.

“Alright, now stay low” Waverly whispered to Jeremy once they were outside. Dawn had broken over the horizon which offered them just enough light to see where they were headed “We’re not sure if there are still lookouts on the-”

Suddenly a huge explosion ripped through the factory with enough force to blow all the way to the exit where Jeremy and Waverly were. The force took out the door, the wall, and sent the two of them flying off their feet. It was hard to tell how far they traveled. All Waverly remembered was the pain that came with hitting the ground, the sound of all the air being forced from her lungs, and then everything going black.

~.~.~.~.~.~.

The first thing that came back to Waverly was the very distinct feeling that she was laying in a hammock. She felt her body being supported as it swayed back and forth very gently. She felt warm and safe like she used to when she laid in the hammock at the Homestead as a little girl.

Then the ringing started. Her ears started to ring at a pitch she wasn’t even sure existed until that very moment. With the ringing came the pain. Her head hurt, her ears hurt, and basically every part of her body hurt. That was probably from landing on the cold hard ground, she thought.

She suddenly had the thought to open her eyes. She realized she was coming back to consciousness. She must have been knocked out cold in the blast, she realized. Her brows creased at that and she wondered if she had messed up in her research somewhere.

She groaned the idea away as she willed the muscles in her eyes to open. They were flooded with light at first and that made her immediately wince and pull them closed again. But after a moment she tried again. This time she was able to blink away the light and that is when she saw the most ethereal sight she had ever seen. Nicole Haught’s entire head was encircled with an angelic light and her smile was beaming down at her as if from Heaven.

“You’re awake” Nicole let out a relieved sounding laugh as her eyes flickered away from Waverly’s face for just a moment to check that her path was still clear before returning her gaze to the woman she was carrying in her arms. “How are you feeling?”

“Huh?” Waverly could see Nicole’s lips moving but her voice was muffled and she couldn’t make out any words.

“Oh, right, you were pretty close to the blast” Nicole frowned and looked up again. She was running as quickly as she could through the woods toward the rendezvous point. She had Waverly held tightly in her arms and Jeremy right behind her. He had been hit with the blast as well but his blow had been cushioned by Waverly. When he landed it was in a thick bush which had saved him from falling unconscious as well.

Waverly slowly turned her head and that is when she saw that she was being carried by Nicole. No wonder she felt like she was lying carefree in a hammock. Nicole’s arms were cradling her in much the same way. She smiled at that and looked back up at the woman. “Wynonna?”

“Yeah, we’re almost there” Nicole looked down at Waverly with a quick nod. She then glanced at Jeremy and when she saw he was keeping up she sped up her rapid pace. She was practically jogging now with Waverly in her arms and didn’t even seem to be hindered by it at all.

They finally broke through the treeline and into the clearing where Wynonna was waiting. She was surrounded by a couple dozen people and it was clear at that moment that most, if not all, of the humans had gotten out.

As soon as Wynonna saw Nicole with Waverly in her arms she felt her heart drop to her feet. She pushed through the crowd and rushed over to the approaching woman. “What the Hell happened?”

“She’s fine” Nicole gave a nod down to Waverly in her arms as she came to a stop and gently lowered the woman to her feet.

Waverly started crying immediately and threw her arms around Wynonna in a tight hug. She was happy to be alive. She was so grateful that Wynonna had not done anything stupid. Most of all, she didn’t have a word for how incredibly relieved she was that they had managed to blow up the factory and all the zombies inside. It was over.

“Are you alright?” Wynonna had broken down into tears as soon as her sister had flung herself at her. She squeezed her as if she were afraid Waverly would be ripped away from her at any moment.

“The blast temporarily damaged her hearing. It should return soon” Nicole piped up and motioned to how Wynonna was speaking against her sister’s ear.

“The blast!?” Wynonna’s eyes went wide with utter shock and pulled from the hug. Her hands cupped at Waverly’s face and that is when she noticed the state of her sister. Her skin was ashened, her hair a mess, and her clothing torn in various places. As she scanned over her sister she felt her rage boiling. She moved around Waverly, took two swift steps toward Nicole, and unleashed a furious right fist that landed dead center on Nicole’s nose.

“Fuck!” Nicole stumbled back from the force of the punch and immediately covered her nose with both hands.

“Wynonna!” Waverly rushed to stand between her sister and Nicole with her hands stretched out in an attempt to halt her sister’s actions. “What was that for?”

“I knew I shouldn’t have let you go in there!” Wynonna motioned furiously toward the smoke billowing over the treetops to indicate where the explosion had happened.

“What?” Waverly still couldn’t hear. She shook her head and pointed at her ears before letting out a sigh. “It’s not her fault! I was outside when it blew up. I think I just miscalculated in my plans somewhere.”

“It’s fine” Nicole grumbled as she stared at her blood covered hands. She was pretty sure Wynonna had managed to break her nose but the bleeding was already slowing down so she wasn’t too upset by it. “Wynonna, I did what I promised I’d do. I got her out first.”

“Obviously not fast enough!” Wynonna growled and motioned at her sister. “Also, what the Hell was all that double agent shit? I should kill you right now!” She whipped Peacemaker from its holster and pointed it at Nicole’s bloodied face.

“Look, I had a hunch!” Nicole lifted her hands to try and calm Wynonna down. She knew the woman was upset for so many reasons but she hoped she would get a chance to explain.

“A hunch that you could take advantage of us?” Wynonna yelled and pulled the hammer back on Peacemaker.

Waverly couldn’t tell what was being said. Although the ringing was fading she was still only getting muffled voices. She could tell her sister was mad, though. She once more moved to put herself between Nicole and Wynonna and took hold of the barrel of Peacemaker. “Stop! She saved me! Isn’t that all that matters?”

“She helped save all of us” Jeremy who, with the rest of them, had been watching the exchange with wide-eyed stares. He motioned to the group of people that were gathered there and gave a nod “Your sister and Nicole put their lives on the line for us. You should be proud.”

“I should blow-” Wynonna tried to point Peacemaker at Nicole again but Waverly had a firm grip on the barrel. She let out a sigh and looked around her. That is when she saw every set of eyes on her. She blinked once as the reality of what had happened started to set in. Her sister had risked her life to save complete strangers solely because it was the right thing to do. She finally huffed out a relenting sigh and lowered her gun. She focused on her sister and gave a little nod “You did good, babygirl.”

Waverly couldn’t hear what her sister said but she didn’t need to. She could tell by the look on Wynonna’s face that she was proud of her. She smiled and once more threw her arms around her older sister in a tight hug “We did it, Wynonna. It’s over.”

“I don’t think it’s over” Nicole cleared her throat softly as she spoke. 

“What?” Wynonna pulled from the hug and focused a confused and annoyed look on Nicole. “We blew that place to Neptune. How could it not be over?”

Nicole looked at Waverly and knew that she couldn’t hear what was being said. What she had to tell them was important and she needed both of them to hear it. She just gave a shake of her head and motioned around to the group of people all waiting for whatever came next “We can talk about that later, okay? Right now I think we should get everyone to safety.”

Wynonna quirked an eyebrow. She did not like that Nicole seemed to be withholding information from her. The woman was already on thin ice when it came to having her trust.

Waverly frowned. She could tell something bad had been said and now she wondered what was going on.

“Come on, everyone” Nicole motioned to the group and started to lead them to the school bus they had parked at the rendezvou spot just in case there were survivors. She motioned for them to climb on. As she stood near the door waiting for them all to board her eyes met Wynonna’s stare from across the clearing. She knew the woman probably hated her for the things that she heard out of the bug in her bra. She couldn’t blame her for that. She just hoped that Wynonna would hear her out and believe the explanation she had because the two of them still needed each other whether Wynonna liked it or not.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~.

“How’s the hearing?” Nicole asked Waverly softly with a motion to her own ears in case Waverly still couldn’t hear.

“Come in” Waverly smiled and motioned for Nicole to enter her bedroom from where she stood drying her hair in the mirror over her dresser. After getting back to the Homestead they had done their best to supply the survivors with food and shelter but it had been almost immediately obvious that they did not have enough supplies to support them very long.

As Nicole took a few steps into Waverly’s bedroom, her eyes lifted up and around, taking in the atmosphere, and that is when she realized she had never been in the girl’s bedroom before. She smiled as she took in the way it was decorated and the little knick knacks set all about that made the room feel homely and comfortable. She tilted her head to the side as she found a picture on one of the shelves. She approached it slowly and as soon as she could she lifted it from its spot. She recognized Waverly and Wynonna right away, even though they were obviously years younger. There was a third girl in the picture and Nicole realized it was probably their other sister.

“That’s Willa” Waverly confirmed Nicole’s thinking with a nod as she slowly approached the woman so as not to startle her.

Nicole gave Waverly a crooked half smile as she set the picture back on the shelf “I figured as much. The three of you must have been a handful together as kids.”

Waverly gave a shrug at that. She had never been incredibly close to Willa. Even in a survival situation when all you had in life was your family it seemed like Willa was more concerned with Willa than anything else. “We didn’t really have a normal childhood” She finally said in the hope that Nicole wouldn’t ask any more questions about her sister.

With an understanding nod, Nicole dropped the subject and turned around to face Waverly fully “I guess your hearing is back, huh?”

“The ringing is still there and it kind of sounds like I’m hearing everything through a bubble but, yeah” Waverly smiled very softly. She liked that Nicole was concerned about her well being.

“I’m really glad you made it out” Nicole whispered softly, as if what she had just said was not something she was allowed to express. “I was worried when it exploded without being detonated.”

“You didn't detonate?” Waverly’s eyes widened in surprise.

Nicole just shook her head with a frown. “I had just gotten out of the factory and was searching for a safe spot to detonate from when it exploded. I don’t know what happened. All I know is you did something right because the bomb did what it was supposed to do.”

Waverly’s brows curled together in a worried frown. She wondered what she had done wrong. She had studied and researched bomb building and wiring detonators for years. Maybe some of the wiring was old or faulty. She let out a sigh at the thought. They had gotten lucky. None of the humans got hurt and that is what mattered most to her.

“It’s not your fault” Nicole could see the wheels turning behind Waverly’s eyes and she reached out to lay a comforting touch against her shoulder. 

“Someone could have been killed” Waverly mumbled through her concerned frown. “Wynonna was right, it was a bad plan.”

“It was a great plan and it worked” Nicole put her other hand against Waverly’s other shoulder and gave a little squeeze. “If nothing else, the zombies are shitting their pants now.”

“Wait, what do you mean?” Waverly’s worry was replaced by curiosity.

“That’s what I need to talk to you and Wynonna about” Nicole gave a single nod as her hands lifted off of Waverly’s shoulders. “We need to sit down and figure out what to do next.”

“What do you mean?” Waverly repeated as worry started to settle in.

“Let’s go find Wynonna and I will explain-”

“No need, I’ve been spying on you this entire time” Wynonna stepped into the open doorway and gave a crooked smirk that was less amused and more cynical. “Wanted to make sure you weren’t lying to my baby sister.”

Nicole rolled her eyes in frustration and gave her head a shake “Still haven’t lied to you this entire time, Wynonna.”

“No?” Wynonna slowly stepped into the room, Peacemaker swirling around her finger, with her eyes set on Nicole. “Then what’s all this double agent bullshit I heard? How long have you been working with Bobo?”

“What?” Waverly’s eyes widened once more in surprise as she looked back and forth between her sister and Nicole.

“I am not working with him” Nicole spoke calmly, her eyes focused sharply on Wynonna. “Just before I was sent here I overhead a phone conversation between the head of X-Division and someone he called Robert. I didn’t hear all of it but from what I could make out it sounded like Robert was being paid to make a Zombie army for X-Division to use. I heard something about feeding them and training them until they were ready to fight. Then I heard the word Purgatory.”

Waverly’s eyes fluttered as she tried to grasp what was being said.

Wynonna had stopped twirling Peacemaker but her face had yet to slacken from her skeptical glare she held on Nicole “How do I know you’re not lying because you got caught?”

“I saved you didn’t I?” Nicole growled in frustration. “I saved Waverly” She motioned to the woman standing next to her. “I saved the humans and I lit the barrel fires and risked my life to blow up the factory! I don’t know how to prove to you that I am not lying!”

“You haven’t been completely forthcoming with everything, Nicole! It’s a little hard to jump on the trust train with a conductor that won’t tell you where the fuck you’re going!” Wynonna yelled and started to close the gap between herself and Nicole.

“STOP!” Waverly stepped between the two like she had so many times already. She put a hand on Nicole’s shoulder and the other on Wynonna’s chest. She narrowed her eyes at her sister and shook her head “You have got to get over this, Wynonna. I trust her, she has proven herself loyal. She has risked her life for us. You need to stop this.”

“She has her own agenda” Wynonna growled and motioned to Nicole with a furious flick of her arm. “She only tells us what she wants us to know!”

“Because if what I’m doing gets out, my cover could be blown!” Nicole barked out as she backed away from Waverly’s hand. “When I heard that conversation I went right to my superior and told him what I had heard. We came up with a plan to uncover what was really going on. It’s top secret. Only he and I know about it because if any of this got out and X-Division got wind of it we would be killed without a second thought.”

“Why would they kill you? Aren’t you their, you know, super soldier?” Waverly looked at Nicole with a sad frown.

“They won’t need me if they have an entire army of zombies” Nicole huffed out. “That doesn’t matter” She waved it off quickly and refocused herself. “What matters is that they, hopefully, don’t know that I was working with you. If they realize I was in on the attack they will know that I’m onto them.”

“Why does it matter?” Waverly shrugged, motioning in the vague direction of the factory. “We blew up their source. It’s over.”

“Well that isn’t their only source” Nicole said softly so she didn’t make Waverly feel silly. “But, no, the factory wasn’t totally destroyed.”

“What?” Wynonna and Waverly gasped in unison.

“Don’t get me wrong, a big part of it blew up and a lot of it is still on fire but it’s not gone” Nicole shrugged slightly. “We definitely dented their man power, though. There are a lot of casualties.”

“Balls” Waverly huffed out in frustration.

“So what happens next?” Wynonna threw her hand out to the side in a shrugging motion. “We wait for them to rebuild? Do we go at them again? I mean, I know they can’t get on our land but there is nothing stopping them from gathering a shit load of guns and unleashing a wall of lead until this place is nothing but blood and rubble.”

“I don’t know,” Nicole admitted with a defeated shrug. “I am supposed to check in with my superior tonight to get the next phase of the plan.”

“Wait, you’re still in contact with HQ?” Wynonna looked skeptical once again.

“I have to carry on like it’s any other recon mission. So, yeah, I contact HQ every few hours.” Nicole shrugged at that as if it should have been obvious. “But I’ve also been talking to my superior on a different walkie. He’s keeping me up to date on what’s going on there and I’m doing the same with things here.”

“What do we do until then?” Waverly sounded a little hopeless as she breathed the question out.

“We wait,” Nicole shrugged. “I have to report to HQ about the survivors I’ve found. Tell them to send a pickup crew. I….” She shook her head at that because she wasn’t sure that was the best idea now considering everything she confirmed to be true about X-Division’s real intentions. What else could she do? There was only one place on earth that was actually totally safe from zombies and, well, the Homestead didn’t have the resources to feed and shelter the survivors for more than a day or two.

“If there’s even a chance they can be fed and taken care of there, you have to let them leave Purgatory” Waverly spoke softly. She could see Nicole was upset. Just a few days ago she didn’t even know this woman and now she could tell just by looking at her what she was feeling. It was strange but it also felt like the most natural thing in the world. 

“What if they’ve just been collecting humans to eventually feed their zombie army?” Nicole’s tone dripped with a sense of despair. She wasn’t even sure she could feel that emotion and yet, somehow, it was peeking through. “What if I’ve been unknowingly saving these people only to send them to their deaths?”

“It’s not your fault” Waverly moved over to Nicole and gently placed her hand on her back. “You would never do that on purpose. They manipulated you.”

Seeing how upset Nicole was at the moment helped Wynonna to see that the woman was being truthful. No one who was a crooked, backstabbing double agent cared about strangers being fed to zombies. She let out a heavy sigh and shrugged as she chimed in “Yeah, man. All that matters is you are trying to stop them now so, like…” She rolled her eyes because she didn’t really do sappy “....stop blubbering about it and Earp the Hell up.”

“Wynonna, you could at least try to be compassionate” Waverly scoffed.

“No, she’s right” Nicole nodded and motioned weakly to Wynonna. “I can’t change what is already done, I can only change what I do from here on out. So…” She offered a crooked smile of thanks to Wynonna then glanced at Waverly “...I am not really sure what it means to Earp the Hell up but I think I get the gist. We’ve got to put on our big girl pants and keep moving forward.”

“Exactly” Wynonna pointed with Peacemaker as if to indicate Nicole had gotten the point before she stuffed the gun back into the holster at her waist. “So we make a new plan. But, like, tomorrow because I didn’t sleep last night and I spent the entire time pulling my hair out hoping they didn’t kill Waverly. I am literally the most exhausted I have ever been in my life.”

Waverly let out a soft laugh and nodded her head “Get some rest. There are plenty of us here to stand watch.”

“With pleasure” Wynonna bowed at her sister, gave a twirl of her hand in a sort of circular wave, then turned on the heels of her boots to head out the door.

“Wynonna, wait” Nicole hurried to catch the woman before she left completely. When they met at the doorway, she let out a soft sigh and gave a nod of her head “I’m not going to let you down, I promise. Nothing is more important to me than making sure you and Waverly get out of here forever.”

Wynonna’s lips tilted to one side and her head gave a shake. She knew they could never leave because Peacemaker could never leave and if there was a zombie war she wanted the most powerful weapon by her side at all times. But, she wouldn’t tell Nicole that. Instead she just gave a little shrug, a slight nod, and motioned to Nicole’s face “Not sorry I punched you in the nose. Goodnight.” 

Before Nicole could say anything else Wynonna was rushing away to her own bedroom. Nicole let out a sigh because, well, she had a feeling that was about as warm as Wynonna got if your name wasn’t Earp. She shook her head at that and turned back to look at Waverly who had settled on the edge of her mattress. She smiled slightly then motioned behind herself “You should sleep, too. I will stand watch.”

“Don’t be silly” Waverly shook her head at that. “You need to shower and change your clothes” She motioned to all of Nicole’s being and let out a huff “You’re covered in blood!”

“Oh” Nicole looked down over herself and the streaks of blood on her shirt and coat and just shrugged. Blood did not bother her. “It’s fine.”

“Go” Waverly got up from the bed and was staring at her firmly. “Then after you shower and change you’re going to get a few hours of sleep. Jeremy and I worked out a watch schedule. There are more than enough people here. We will all take one hour of watch and rotate sleeping, eating, and bathing.”

“But, I-”

“Go!” Waverly set her hands on her hips and narrowed her eyes on Nicole. “And leave your dirty clothes for me to wash, please.”

Nicole wasn’t sure if she was amused at how tough Waverly was acting or actually convinced the woman would hurt her if she didn’t do as she commanded. She bit back a smirk and just gave a nod “Fine, but I don’t have another change of clothes to wear while you wash my dirty ones.”

“I’ll find you some” Waverly waved the excuse away and offered a smile now that it seemed like Nicole was giving in. “Now shoo” She flicked her hands a few times to urge Nicole to leave the room.

With a final laugh, Nicole gave in and left the room. She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly as she moved towards the shower. Ever since they had kissed, Nicole had been experiencing things she had long thought were dead inside her. A racing pulse, butterflies fluttering, and a total body warmth that rose in her whenever she was around Waverly. She couldn’t be sure but she had a feeling the woman had resuscitated the human part of her.

~.~.~.~.~.~. 

“Oh good, you found the clothes” Waverly gave Nicole a soft smile as her eyes took in Nicole’s form from head to toe. She tilted her head to the side, studying the outfit she had picked out, before letting out a very light laugh “Well all that matters is these are temporary.”

“Yeah, I feel like I’m drowning in fabric” Nicole agreed with a laugh as she pulled out the bottom of the huge sweatshirt she had put on and shook her head. “Where did you find these?”

“I figured I’d need extra fabric one day?” Waverly shrugged, offering an apologetic smile. “Whenever we go on supply runs I bring home pretty much anything that’s in good shape. I am all about reusing and repurposing everything.”

“Well if we need a tent for the group you can use my shirt” Nicole chuckled and let go of the sweatshirt. She was grateful for the gesture. No one had really ever cared about her like this before. Aside from her parents, of course. It had been a long time since she had felt like she was more than just a tool or a weapon.

“On our next supply run we will find you a backup outfit that actually fits” Waverly assured her with a laugh before she scooted over on her bed and pulled back the blankets. She patted the now empty spot next to her and nodded for Nicole to climb in.

Nicole just stared at Waverly as if she had spoken to her in a language she had never heard before.

“Come on” Waverly rolled her eyes at the look on Nicole’s face. The poor girl looked like she had just been asked to pull out her own kidney and donate it to a stranger.

“Oh, no, I can just sleep in the-”

“Barn? The barn that is stuffed full of people?” Waverly shook her head at that and once more patted the spot where she was laying “Every square inch of this place is littered with people, Nicole. Just get in, will you?”

Nicole opened her mouth to argue again but stopped when Waverly arched an eyebrow in a way that almost dared her to come up with another excuse as to why she would not share a bed with her. After a moment of thought, Nicole let out a heavy sigh, pushed the door closed, and moved toward the bed “Are you sure this is alright?”

“You need a place to sleep and I have room” Waverly said softly as she watched Nicole’s timid approach toward the bed. “That’s all it is, Nicole. We’re just going to sleep.”

“Yeah, of course. I just meant that-” Nicole stopped and motioned behind herself to nowhere in particular and shook her head. “Your sister doesn’t really like how close we’ve become and the last thing I want to do is piss her off. Again.”

“Wynonna will get over it” Waverly waved it off and gave one last pat against the mattress. “I am not afraid of her.”

“Neither am I” Nicole rolled her eyes at the idea as she sat on the edge of the mattress next to where Waverly had been patting. “But I am doing whatever I can to make sure everything between her and I is copacetic.”

“Nothing is ever copacetic in Wynonna’s world” Waverly let out a laugh as she slid down under the blankets more completely now that Nicole was actually sitting on the bed. “She likes things her way and fights like Hell to make sure they stay that way. You just have to learn to ignore it.”

“She doesn’t bend, does she?” Nicole glanced down at Waverly from where she sat. 

“Her stubbornness is so innate she doesn’t even realize it” Waverly shrugged and let out a soft yawn. “But, she does bend.” She smiled very softly as her eyes settled tenderly on Nicole “You’re here, aren’t you? You might not realize it but this is the most she has ever bent in her life.”

Nicole gave a single nod as she thought about what Waverly had just said. It seemed like Wynonna would rather Nicole leave and never come back but, if what Waverly was saying was true, in reality it seemed Wynonna was glad she was there. She would have to learn to take the woman less literally and brush it off when she said something mean or annoying.

“Now get in” Waverly whispered as her eyes started to droop closed. “We have a big day tomorrow.”

“What are we doing tomorrow?” Nicole asked with a soft laugh as she pulled the blankets over her legs and started to slide down onto her back next to Waverly.

“I don’t know I was just assuming you’ll have a plan by then” Waverly smiled weakly at her attempt at being funny as she rolled into Nicole once she finally laid down.

Nicole looked down in surprise when she felt the smaller girl slide her arm across her stomach and nestle her head against her shoulder. She blinked once in confusion and just sort of stared at the top of Waverly’s head for a few moments. When it became obvious that the girl had almost immediately drifted off, Nicole let out a heavy breath as she allowed herself to relax against the mattress. 

She slipped her right arm around Waverly’s body to hold her in the crook of her arm. As she laid there listening to Waverly breathing she felt something she hadn’t felt in longer than she could remember. She felt safe. She wondered how this woman who she had only known for a few days could offer her that feeling. Somewhere between stroking Waverly’s hair and wondering how this woman was capable of making her feel things again, she drifted off to sleep.

~.~.~.~.~.


	10. Most importantly, who do I need to shoot?

“Nicole, shhh, Nicole” Waverly rolled over, holding herself over the woman who was whimpering and thrashing in her sleep next to her. She reached her hand down and lightly stroked Nicole’s scarred cheek. “It’s alright, Nicole. You just need to wake up.”

Like a jolt of electricity, Waverly’s touch pulled Nicole out of the darkness of her sleep. Her eyes shot open and she drew in a sharp breath. She stared at the other woman holding herself above her for a few long moments, as if she did not recognize her, before she blinked a few times and the world came back to her. Her chest heaved up and down quickly as she attempted to calm her racing heart. She realized she was sweating, her borrowed clothing was soaked through. She licked her lips and when she spoke her voice came out hoarse “What happened?”

“You were dreaming, I think” Waverly’s voice was barely a whisper. Her eyes narrowed in concern as she searched Nicole’s face for any hint as to what she had been seeing in her sleep. “You were whimpering, almost like you wanted to cry. You were tossing about.” Her hand fell from Niole’s cheek and came to rest gently on her shoulder “Are you alright?”

“I don’t-” Nicole’s words came out ragged, as if she had choked on them on their way out. She cleared her dry throat and shook her head. She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath of air, filling her lungs to capacity, holding the breath for as long as she could. Her entire body warmed but she felt herself shiver as the images of her dreams came back to her. A frown took over her features as she exhaled and opened her eyes to focus back on Waverly. “I can’t remember the last time I dreamed.”

Waverly nodded to show she was listening but the way Nicole’s face held a frown didn’t do anything to ease her worry. “What were you dreaming about?”

“Everything” Nicole breathed out the word. Her brows curled together in thought before she shook her head “Nothing. I don’t know” She blinked and focused on Waverly in the dark room. She took a moment to really focus on the girl next to her. When she did she felt her heart start to race again. She lifted a hand to her own chest and placed it over the thunderous beating behind her ribs. She drew in another deep breath and gave a nod “Waverly, something weird is happening to me.”

“Are you alright?” Waverly’s eyes widened slightly with worry when she saw the way Nicole reached for her own heart. “I mean, Jeremy isn’t a doctor but I am sure he would know whether or not something was wrong with you.”

“No, it’s not that” Nicole shook her head quickly in an attempt to shake away Waverly’s concern. “It’s not bad. It’s just…” She huffed because she wasn’t sure she knew how to explain it. Instead of trying to find the words she reached out and took one of Waverly’s hands in hers. She then gently placed it near her left breast, covering it with her own, before her eyes lifted to Waverly with a nod “Do you feel that?”

“It’s your heartbeat” Waverly’s breath trembled as she spoke. She was trying to be casual but the intensity in Nicole was shaking her to the core. Her eyes fixed on where her hand lay pressed against Nicole’s chest and she gave a nod. “It’s beating pretty fast.”

“I never used to feel it” Nicole’s mouth was dry so her words felt like they were sticking to her cheeks and lips as she spoke. She cleared her throat and tried again. “Before I met you I didn’t feel anything. I didn’t really think about anything but my mission. But…” She let out a soft breath of laughter and removed her hand from Waverly’s to touch gently at her cheek “...I feel alive again and I think that’s because of you.”

Waverly’s hand trembled against Nicole’s chest. There was such raw honesty radiating from Nicole that it was almost too much to handle. Never in her life had she felt what she was feeling now with this woman. She tried to draw in a breath but it was stopped short when she surged forward and captured Nicole’s lips in a kiss that seemingly came out of nowhere.

Nicole had definitely not been expecting the kiss. She stiffened just slightly in surprise, only for a moment, before instincts she didn’t know she had took over. A hand moved to the back of Waverly’s head and her mouth tilted slightly to allow their lips to settle more effortlessly together.

It was as if they had done it a hundred times before. Their bodies fell into one another like two pieces of a puzzle that were etched from the other. Their hands slowly roamed over curves and along backs in a way that felt both familiar and brand new with each new movement. 

Waverly wasn’t sure how she knew what to do, being as she had never done this with anyone before, but she didn't question it. She allowed her body to follow what felt natural and soon her leg was sliding over Nicole’s hips. She gently settled herself on the other woman’s legs as her chest leaned down, pressing as tightly as she physically could against the woman beneath her.

“What are you doing?” Nicole breathed out against the kiss before slowly pulling her lips away just enough to look at Waverly. Her hands dropped to rest lightly against the other woman’s waist and she drew in a deep breath to steady the trembling that was radiating through her entire body.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I just-” Waverly shook her head and sat up straight. She looked worried now as her eyes scanned over the way Nicole was propped up on her elbows on the bed beneath her. “It just happened. I don’t really know what I’m doing.” She frowned and started to shift off of Nicole “I’m so sorry.”

“Hey, no, it’s okay” Nicole’s grip on her hips tightened and she made it clear that she did not want Waverly to move. When the woman looked back at her with confusion, she offered just a flicker of a smile before uncertainty took over her features. “I was just surprised. I mean all of this is surprising and…” She shrugged as her eyes dropped and she looked at her hands around Waverly’s hips. She gave a soft squeeze and she nodded just once “...I’ve never done this before, either. I don’t really know how to react.”

“It’s okay” Waverly nodded and leaned forward into Nicole again. Her hand lifted to gently cup at Nicole’s left cheek and she fixed her with a gentle smile. “We don’t have to do anything. I guess I was just so swept up in the intensity of it all and I got carried away.”

“Me too,” Nicole admitted with a nod. Though they both seemed a little unsure about what to do next, or whether or not anything else came next, neither of them made any movements to remove themselves from the current position they were in. Nicole licked at her lips and her lingering gaze on Waverly softened just slightly as a smile came to her lips “I liked whatever was happening.”

“So did I” Waverly agreed with a slight blush rising in her cheeks. The hand that had cupped at Nicole’s cheek moved now and her fingertips slowly traced over the woman’s lips. Her eyes followed the path her fingers took and she felt heat stirring in her stomach “I like kissing you. A lot.”

“And I like kissing you” Nicole whispered against Waverly’s fingertips. She parted her lips after she spoke and ever so lightly let the tip of her tongue graze over the feather-light touch of Waverly’s fingers. She wasn’t sure what made her do it and as soon as she had she realized how bizarre that must have been. Her eyes went wide at the realization and she gave her head a shake “I don’t know why I-”

“Shhh” Waverly had curled her hand into a fist with the exception of one finger which she now used to press into Nicole’s lips to stop her from apologizing. She felt her hand tremble slightly and her heart flutter as a new hunger filled her from head to toe. She licked her lips and without another word she leaned in and once more took Nicole’s mouth against her own.

There were no other apologies or hesitations between them. Once again their bodies took over as if they had done this countless times in their lives. Their lips danced together as if they’d been rehearsing it for years. Hands searched out spots as if they knew there were secrets hidden in those places. Where one body dipped the other fit perfectly with a curve. The longer they stayed entangled in the kiss, the more obvious it became that their meeting had not been happenstance in the slightest.

After a few moments Waverly pulled back from the kiss, her chest heaving as she pulled in heavy breaths. She dropped her hands to her waist and in one swift movement she pulled the shirt she had worn to bed off her head. As she set it aside and her long hair flowed loosely down her bare back and shoulders, she let her eyes focus on Nicole below her and for a brief moment she felt shy. She had no idea what she was doing and even more so why she was seemingly unable to stop herself from doing it. All she knew was it felt right and she was leaning into the feeling completely. But now, in that first moment of sitting bare chested on Nicole she felt the first stirring of bashfulness creeping in. She bit her lip and let out a heavy sigh but before she could speak Nicole was sitting up off the bed and wrapping her large arms around her waist tightly. 

“You’re stunning” Nicole whispered against Waverly’s ear before her lips laid tiny kisses along her jawline and down over the curve of her neck. As her lips moved, she felt Waverly’s head fall back and that was all the motivation she needed to keep going. 

All uncertainty and bashfulness faded with every touch from Nicole’s lips. Everything else faded, too. At that moment the only thing that seemed to matter were two people sharing an unexpected moment. A moment of honesty, comfort, and intimacy that was a rarity in the current state of their world. 

Neither of them thought about it any longer. They just felt. Lost in sensations never before considered until now they both allowed themselves to be completely consumed by every kiss, touch, and pleasure-filled moan while the rest of reality faded into oblivion, even if it was just for one night.

~.~.~.~.~.~.

Nicole’s eyes shot open and only for a moment she forgot where she was. Then she felt the weight of Waverly lying against her bare chest and the events of the night before flooded her memory. She smiled warmly and dropped her eyes to the woman sleeping against her. As she replayed what had happened in the darkness she watched the morning creep in and slowly light up the shape their bodies made together under the blankets. Soon the room was filled with sunlight and the soft sounds of people stirring in the kitchen rose from below.

“Waverly” Nicole whispered very softly as her hand moved along her bare back and gave a very light shake. “Waverly, we need to get up now.”

A soft moan lifted from the sleeping girl and she shifted just slightly. 

“Waves” Nicole spoke a little louder now. She did not want to speak too loudly yet so she didn’t startle the sleeping woman but she also knew that within just a matter of minutes there was a good chance someone, probably Wynonna, would be at the door wanting Waverly to come down and start breakfast. She was not really sure what the reaction would be if Wynonna undoubtedly walked in without knocking only to find them in bed together naked. That would probably be the last step onto the very thin ice Nicole was already skating on with the woman.

Waverly finally yawned and blinked her eyes open. She looked up at Nicole and immediately smiled at the woman. As the images of the night before came back to her she felt a soft blush creep over her cheeks. She licked over her lips as she pushed up from where she was lying and rolled onto her back “Good morning.”

“Morning” Nicole couldn’t help the soft laugh that came out with the word. She had no idea why Waverly’s shyness at that moment tickled her. She sat up a bit now, pulling the sheet up to cover her bare chest, as she focused on the woman beside her “You sleep alright?”

“Better than I ever have,” Waverly admitted with a nod as she pushed a hand back through her messy hair. She sat up, clutching the blanket over herself as well, and setting a soft smile on her lips “You? Any more nightmares?”

Nicole just shook her head. She leaned over to gently place a kiss against Waverly’s mouth as a way of quelling the awkward uncertainty she saw rising in her. It was a brief kiss and as she pulled back she gave a nod “We should probably get dressed before your sister bursts in here and decides she really hates me.”

“Good thinking” Waverly was grateful that Nicole could shift focus to something else so effortlessly. She was an overthinker and it seemed that Nicole was not content to let that happen. What they had shared the night before was amazing and that is all that mattered. They had more important things to think about and Nicole was quick to remind her of that.

“I need to go see if I can contact my superior” Nicole started as if they had just been discussing the plan for the day. “He never got back to me last night.”

“Is that bad?” Waverly worried her lip between her teeth as she pulled her pajamas back on.

“Probably just means he wasn’t in a secure place” Nicole shrugged causally as she slipped the borrowed oversized sweater over her head then stood to find her discarded sweatpants. As she stepped into them and pulled them over her legs she turned to give Waverly a soft smile “I should also get back into my normal clothes because no one will take me seriously in these.”

“You look comfy” Waverly mused as she moved over to her dresser mirror to start fixing her hair now that she was dressed again. She caught Nicole watching her in the reflection of the mirror and she once more felt herself blushing “You know you can’t stare at me like that around Wynonna. She’s smart. She will figure it out.”

“Sorry” Nicole looked down at her feet and tried to shake off the goofy look she was sure her face held. “I just…” She shrugged and glanced up at Waverly. When she caught her eyes again she smiled then looked away once more “...I am still processing everything.”

“You aren’t regretting it, are you?” Waverly’s smile faded and she moved toward Nicole slowly.

“No,” Nicole’s eyes lifted quickly to find Waverly looking at her with worry on her features. “Not at all. It was the best night of my life.”

Waverly’s blush returned and she shyly tucked some hair behind her ear before dropping her eyes bashfully to her feet.

“I’m processing the fact that I could engage in all of that and, um, feel all of it” Nicole cleared her throat at her own words because everything from the night before suddenly rushed back to her. “Emotionally, I meant. Because I don’t really have feelings, at least I didn’t think I did, but last night I definitely experienced…” She shook her head and let out a soft, happy sounding sigh as her eyes settled longingly on Waverly again “...it was a lot, that’s all.”

“I get it” Waverly took a timid step toward the woman and gently reached out to lay a hand on her arm. She offered her a tender smile as her eyes locked with Nicole’s gaze. “I never thought I’d get to experience that, you know? Things like that just aren’t a priority in this world.” She took one more step closer and this allowed her to slide her other arm across Nicole’s stomach. She lifted onto her toes and touched a light kiss to her cheek “It was amazing and scary and breath-taking and overwhelming and so many other words that I need to look up in a dictionary.” She let out a very soft laugh and slowly lowered from her toes back to her feet “So I get it.”

Nicole nodded just once and offered an almost shy smile to Waverly. She let out a relieved sounding sigh and brushed a hand back through her messy bedhead before motioning to the bedroom door “I guess since we’re on the same page we should move on to more pressing matters, then.”

“Agreed” Waverly gave a sweet smile then stepped away from Nicole. “I will go get your clothes off the line.”

Nicole nodded to acknowledge what Waverly had said before she moved toward the door “While you do that I will go get my bag. See if I can contact my superior.”

Waverly was looking in the mirror again, putting her hair up into a hair tie, when her eyes shifted to catch Nicole in the reflection “Please tell me that you’ve already started to think of a plan in the event you can’t get ahold of him.”

Nicole’s lips curled into a crooked smile and she started toward the bedroom door “I am always thinking of a plan.” She reached out and pulled the door open just as Wynonna had reached for the doorknob on the other side.

“What the Hell?” Wynonna’s eyes went wide with surprise when she was greeted with the unexpected sight of Nicole opening the door. She looked the woman up and down once then blinked and found her sister standing near her dresser. “And what, pray tell, is this all about?” She motioned between the other two women as she spoke.

“Wynonna, it’s not-”

“We were short on sleeping space” Waverly cut Nicole off as she hurried over to the doorway. “We have people covering every inch of floor or ground available here. I had room” She gestured behind herself and gave a shrug “She shouldn’t have to sleep outside after risking her life for all those people. It was the least I could do.”

Wynonna arched a skeptical eyebrow at her sister. She took a moment to look beyond the two women at the doorway and into the bedroom. She then shifted her eyes to Nicole, looked her over slowly, then blinked as she focused back on her sister. She carefully moved her suspicious gaze over Waverly before nodding once. “Well people are starting to ask me about food and when they can leave and it is way too early for me to be dealing with any of that so…” She motioned to Waverly then flicked her hand in a few beckoning motions to indicate she wanted her to go take care of it.

Waverly dipped her head and quickly rushed from the room because she knew Wynonna before noon was not something anyone should have to deal with.

Nicole watched Waverly disappear down the stairs before she took a step out of the bedroom on her way to find her things. She was stopped, though, by the sudden appearance of Wynonna’s arm across the doorway to prevent her movement. She looked down at the arm then cast a curious look at the other woman “Can I help you?”

“Not so fast, Romeo” Wynonna grumbled as her eyes lifted and settled with a firm glare on Nicole. “Waverly is innocent and untainted and everything that is good about this stinking world, alright? She likes to think I am naive and I will believe whatever she tells me but I’m not stupid.” One of her eyebrows twitched up slightly, almost like she was challenging Nicole to deny what she was implying.

“Wynonna, this isn’t any of your business.”

“She is absolutely my business. Every single part of her life is my business” Wynonna growled the words. “I can only be so patient and you’re pushing me to my limits with this…” She motioned to the bed in Waverly’s room before her arm dropped away “...so I am going to tell you one more time to leave my sister alone before I start getting mean.”

Nicole clenched her jaw and fixed her eyes in a firm glare to show she would not be intimidated by Wynonna. She stared at her in silence for a few seconds before she gave a single nod “When it comes to killing zombies and saving people I am open to your input but this-” She motioned toward where Waverly had disappeared down the stairs “-is not something you can bully me about until you get your way.”

“Leave her alone” Wynonna jabbed her fingers into Nicole’s chest sharply.

Nicole’s hand whipped up quickly and grabbed onto Wynonna’s fingers tightly. She gave a slight twist of her wrist which immediately caused the other woman to whimper. She blinked once and gave a slight shake of her head “I am going to tell you one more time to stop trying to bully me before I start getting mean.”

“Woah, woah, woah, what the Hell is going on?” Waverly rushed over and grabbed hold of both Nicole and Wynonna’s wrists. She pulled them apart and glared at the both of them “I swear to God I am so sick of you two bickering all the time!”

“I’m sorry” Nicole mumbled and pulled her hand away before shamefully dropping her head.

“Waverly, I really need to talk to you” Wynonna scowled at Nicole as she cradled her sore fingers in her hand before she looked at her sister and nodded away from the taller woman “Alone.”

“No” Waverly huffed out the word with a shake of her head. “I have far more important things to worry about than you and your weird obsession with me.” She was frustrated and sometimes when she got frustrated she got a little mean, too.

“I am not obsessed with you! Is that how you feel?” Wynonna had initially puffed up in defense but just as quickly deflated and now looked wounded.

“I just meant-” Waverly immediately regretted what she had said. She tried to wave it off and gave a shake of her head. She fixed her sister with an apologetic look as a hand reached out to gently lay a comforting touch against Wynonna’s arm “People are hungry, myself included. Maybe we can talk once we’ve had food and coffee.”

Before Wynonna could disagree there was a sudden ruckus that rose from below them. People were scared, or excited, it was hard to tell. All that was clear was that something was going on. That was enough to push what had just been said to the back burner as the three of them all hurried downstairs to see what was causing such a commotion.

“What’s going on?” Nicole was the first to hit the bottom floor and was immediately greeted with the sight of people huddled around any and all windows in the Homestead.

“There’s a helicopter!” Jeremy bounced excitedly and motioned in the direction that everyone was staring. “Someone saw it about a minute ago and it just keeps getting closer.”

“A helicopter?” Wynonna spat a laugh at the idea. “Don’t be silly. No one has a helicopter anymore.”

“X-Division does” Nicole mumbled in a tone that was hard to read. Her eyes were fixed in the direction that everyone was staring, as if she were deep in thought, before she blinked and snapped out of it. She hurried over to the front door where her boots were and quickly pushed her feet inside. “Excuse me” She spoke with a sense of urgency now as she grabbed her long trenchcoat, slipped her arms inside hurriedly, and pushed by all the onlookers to make her way outside.

Sure enough, as soon as Nicole looked up she could see the black helicopter approaching the Homestead. She squinted as if she would be able to see who was inside. With no luck she simply walked out toward the empty fields at the edge of the property and waited. She had her arms crossed over her chest, keeping her coat pulled closed, as the helicopter made it’s descent.

As the aircraft slowly lowered toward the ground it kicked up snow, dirt, and any loose grass or plant life in the area. Nicole’s hair whipped around wildly but she hardly noticed. She was razor focused on trying to see who was inside. If X-Division was sending out a helicopter that meant something serious was going on and she couldn’t be sure whether or not it was good or bad news.

Finally the helicopter touched down and the side door of the small cabin slid open. Someone wearing black clothes from head to toe, dressed in full winter attire including a beanie, lowered their head and hopped out under the still rotating blades on top of the aircraft.

As the blades slowed, the pilot finally cutting off the engine, the person who had stepped off the helicopter approached Nicole. Once safely out of range of the rotating blades, they looked up and greeted Nicole with a bright white smile. 

“Agent Dolls?” Nicole looked stunned as she breathed out the name in surprise.

“Haught” The man gave a nod and reached out a hand for her to shake. “Damn you could have warned me how cold it is here.”

“I-” Nicole just shook her head as she took hold of his offered hand. She stared in disbelief for a few more moments before finally giving a nod. “What are you doing here?”

“The situation has changed” Dolls said bluntly as his smile fell from his face now. He motioned to the Homestead behind Nicole and gave a nod “Let’s go inside and I’ll bring you up to speed.”

~.~.~.~.~.~.~. 

“Why is she staring at me like that?” Dolls leaned toward Nicole and whispered the question as his eyes stayed fixed on Wynonna who had not taken her eyes off him since he walked inside the Homestead.

Nicole just glanced at Wynonna and gave her head an annoyed shake before she focused back on Dolls “Ignore her. Now what’s going on?”

His eyes stayed on Wynonna curiously for a few more seconds before he slowly looked over at Nicole. “I think we should speak alone.” They were in Waverly’s bedroom upstairs as it was the only room in the house that was removed from the rest of the population who were all too curious about Dolls’ arrival. It was the only place they could have any privacy. 

“They’re the Earps” Nicole huffed and motioned to Wynonna and Waverly who were standing near the door. Wynonna was still staring at Dolls as if her eyes had the ability to see through him and scan him for trouble. Waverly, on the other hand, looked terrified. That was due to the fact that she hadn’t been able to read Nicole’s reaction to Dolls’ visit yet which made her worry.

“Yeah, I’m the goddamn Earp Heir” Wynonna finally spoke as she whipped Peacemaker from it’s holster and held it up toward Dolls. She arched an eyebrow as if challenging him to argue with that point.

Nicole just shook her head at Wynonna before calmly but seriously turning back to Dolls “The legend is real, Dolls. Her gun kills them. It’s incredible.”

This seemed to pique Dolls’ interest and he gave one last curious glance to Wynonna before he focused back on Nicole. “He’s on the move, Haught. I think he’s set to arrive at the factory later today. We need to get these people to safety. I’ve set up a secret caravan to help transport the survivors to The Garden but we have to move fast. If he gets wind of what we are doing he won’t hesitate to try and stop us.”

Nicole’s face was now painted with worry and determination. She gave a single nod of understanding before turning to look at the sisters who had heard every word but hadn’t really understood all of what had been said. Her eyes fell on Waverly and immediately she felt a pang of guilt in her stomach. The girl looked petrified.

“It’s going to be alright” She spoke softly with a nod as she moved over to Waverly now. She put her hands on the smaller woman’s shoulders and gave her a very soft, affectionate smile. “We’re going to get everyone out of here safely. We did it. We saved them.”

“Okay, firstly…” Wynonna turned now and put a hand on her hip while using Peacemaker in her other hand to gesture around as she spoke “...stop looking at my sister that way. And B…” She pointed at Dolls with her gun then back to Nicole and shrugged “...what the Hell is going on?”

Waverly’s face filled with just a tiny bit of relief when Nicole assured her that they had saved all of the humans from the factory. She gave a nod at the woman before rolling her eyes at her sister’s demanding tone. She looked at Wynonna and shrugged slightly “Will you just let them handle this, please?”

“I don’t even know what they are handling!” Wynonna huffed and threw her hands up in the air. “We’re getting everyone out, cool, I got that part. But who the Hell is this ‘He’-” She used finger quotes as she spoke the word “- they are talking about? What is this mysterious He up to? Most importantly, who do I need to shoot?”

“That’s confidential,” Dolls spoke, raising his hand toward Wynonna as if to try and stop her questioning.

Wynonna’s head turned slowly and tilted to the side. Her lips tugged into a fake smile but her eyes narrowed as if she were closing in on some prey. She blinked once and spoke in a tone that showed she was already done trying to cooperate with Dolls “I’m sorry but what part of my gun can kill these fuckers did you not understand?”

“You're a civilian. You aren’t privy to the details of-”

“Privy yourself to this” Wynonna closed the gap between herself and Dolls in two swift steps while raising Peacemaker and aiming it at his head.

“Woah, alright” Nicole quickly stepped between the two. She faced Wynonna, pushing Dolls back behind her, and gave a shake of her head as her eyes landed as calmly as possible on the woman “We are all on the same team, Wynonna. Relax.”

“But he-”

“Stop” Nicole put a hand on Wynonna’s shoulder and fixed her with a firm gaze. They hadn’t known each other long but even a stranger would be able to see in her eyes that Nicole was trying to silently tell Wynonna that she had no intention of excluding her from the plan.

“Come on” Waverly spoke softly as she moved over to her sister. She slid one arm around her back and used the other to grip lightly against Wynonna’s elbow. “Let’s put the gun down and take a breath while we get all the details figured out.”

Nicole cast Waverly a quick, grateful smile then turned around to face Dolls. She set him with a serious look and nodded as she spoke “She’s part of our team. I trust her with my life. I have a feeling she is the only one that can actually end this so if you want to proceed with the plan you do so with the both of us or you do it alone.”

“Yeah!” Wynonna snorted in amusement and threw a victorious fist in the air.

“Wait, both?” Waverly quirked an eyebrow at the word.

“Absolutely not,” Dolls said at the same time that Waverly spoke.

Nicole drew in a deep breath and clenched her jaw. She was trying to be the peace keeper but it was growing obvious she was going to have to put her foot down and tread on a few people’s feelings if she was going to make this work. She stepped back from Dolls and turned so she could now see all three of them staring at her with anticipation. She cleared her throat and when she spoke it was sharp, precise, and to the point.

“She has the gun, she is coming with us. End of discussion” She pointed at Wynonna but spoke directly to Dolls. She looked now at Wynonna but motioned to Dolls. “You will listen to what he has to say without argument. If you don’t you could put this entire thing at risk.” She took a breath then turned to the third person in the room. “And you” Her tone softened just slightly as she now settled her eyes on Waverly. “You’re going with the rest of the survivors and getting yourself to safety.”

“Like Hell I am” Waverly’s brows knitted together in a frown as her head shook feverishly in defiance.

“I like that plan” Wynonna gave a nod and motioned to her sister. “I think, for once, Haught might be right.”

“For once” Nicole grumbled but shook it off before her tone softened again. “It is important for you to be safe, Waverly. I am not trying to say you are useless or can’t fight or any of that. I am telling you that your safety will ensure the mission is a success.” 

“No. I want to stay and fight” Waverly looked hurt as she stepped away from Nicole.

“Wynonna won’t be able to focus if she is worried about you” Nicole motioned to the older sister but kept her eyes on Waverly. “And if I am being honest, neither will I.”

“Gross” Wynonna rolled her eyes and faked gagged before her expression changed quickly and she focused on her sister. She gave a nod and spoke gently “I hate to admit it but she’s actually right this time.”

Nicole’s jaw tightened again but she had to shake off Wynonna’s persistent annoying attitude because getting upset would do no good in this situation. She knew everyone was scared and worried and Wynonna used humor to hide her feelings. She let out a heavy breath through her nose and slowly relaxed her face when she looked back to Waverly “Please, Waves, don’t make this harder than it’s already going to be.”

“Nicole, I-” Waverly’s eyes closed and she drew in a deep breath. She thought about everything for a few moments before her eyes fluttered open and she focused on the woman looking down at her with nothing but complete and total adoration. She gave a single nod as her hand lifted to gently come to rest on Nicole’s cheek “I’m not happy about this.”

“I know but it’s the best option we have” Nicole spoke softly and nodded into Waverly’s hand. The two of them seemed to have disappeared into their own little world as they stared longingly at one another and spoke just loud enough for the other to hear “You need to be the leader for the survivors, okay? Take care of them.”

“Should we give them a minute?” Dolls leaned toward Wynonna and whispered the question with his eyes locked on the other two. It kind of felt like he was intruding on an intimate moment.

“Yep” Wynonna agreed with a quick nod then turned without another word and left the room with Dolls on her heels.

“Promise me something” Waverly’s voice trembled as she whispered. She hadn’t even noticed her sister leaving the room.

“Anything” Nicole’s voice was just as soft as she cupped Waverly’s face in her hands. She closed her eyes and pulled her head down to rest it tenderly against the other woman’s forehead.

“Keep her safe” Waverly could barely choke out the words. Of course she was worried about Nicole’s safety but she also knew the woman had been trained for this. Her sister, however, was not. Wynonna was tough as nails and would fight until her last breath but that did not mean she was anywhere near prepared for the fight they had coming and that thought was terrifying Waverly down to her very core.

“I’ll protect her with my life” Nicole promised without a second’s thought. Her eyes came open and she pulled back just enough to be able to look at the entirety of Waverly’s face. A very soft smile came to her lips when Waverly’s eyelids fluttered open to meet her gaze. She gave a single nod and ran her thumb over the other woman’s cheek gently. “She will make it back to you, I promise.”

Waverly just nodded at the words before she threw her arms around Nicole and pulled her into a tight, desperate hug. She had never been so scared in her entire life. Maybe that was because she actually had more to lose now than ever before. Worst of all was the fact that she had no control over what happened next.

Nicole didn’t say anything more. She just held the smaller woman in her arms as tightly as she could in the hope that it offered her comfort and strength. She had been training for this moment for more than ten years. She didn’t dread what was to come and she had never thought about what would happen if she didn’t succeed. But now, in that moment, as she held onto the only person who had managed to make her feel anything she felt another new emotion rush through her: fear.

She pushed it down, drew in a deep breath, then slowly pulled Waverly away from the hug they were wrapped in. She smiled down at the smaller woman and gave her a very slight nod. “As your sister would say, let’s Earp the Hell up and get this done, yeah?”

Waverly let out a very weak laugh and nodded her head in amusement as she wiped a single tear from her eye “I promise not to tell her you said that.”

“Thanks” Nicole gave Waverly a playful wink. She then leaned down, touched a light kiss against her forehead, and motioned to the bedroom door. “Now let’s go get the plan from Dolls so we can all go save the world.”

They shared one more smile before walking out of the room only to be met by Dolls and Wynonna standing awkwardly outside in the hallway. Wynonna let out a sigh of relief and gave an annoyed shrug “You two done making googly eyes at each other?”

“Sorry” Wavely mumbled and stepped over toward her sister. She gave her a slight smile then motioned to Dolls “Now, what’s the plan.”

~.~.~.~.~.~.

After Dolls laid out the plan for getting the survivors out they all made their way downstairs to tell the group that was waiting for any sort of news. Relief and excitement soon washed over the crowd all huddled tightly inside the Homestead. Some people cried. There were hugs and high fives and it felt like a weight had been lifted off the collective shoulders of everyone that had been rescued from the factory.

There was a buzz about the property as they all waited for the caravan to arrive and take them to safety. Waverly and a few others had joined forces to make a huge feast for everyone before they left. Nicole, Dolls, and Wynonna had gone back up to Waverly’s bedroom to strategize. Dolls had brought all the intel he had been able to collect through both Nicole and his snooping back at HQ and they were going over everything they knew.

“We can’t really do much more right now” Dolls said after a little discussion of everything he had laid out. He checked his watch then looked up at the other two with a nod “I am waiting for confirmation on something before we can proceed so now we just wait.”

Nicole gave a nod to show she understood as she got to her feet “We should probably get some food and take stock of all the weapons we have. Who knows what we might need.”

“What are you waiting for confirmation on?” Wynonna huffed but before she could argue further Nicole cast her a quick glance to remind her that she was supposed to be listening to Dolls without argument. She gave a roll of her eyes at that and motioned toward the door of the bedroom “Yeah, fine, let’s go eat or whatever.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice” Dolls smiled as he gathered up everything he had laid out and tucked it quickly into his bag of equipment that he kept strapped to his chest for safe keeping. He secured the bag back into place, zipped his coat over it to hide it, then gave a nod to the other two before hurrying from the room.

Nicole turned to follow but was stopped unexpectedly by Wynonna grabbing her arm gently. She looked curiously at the other woman but didn’t fight it because of the fact that the motion had not been aggressive. 

“I owe you an apology” Wynonna mumbled quickly before she could change her mind. “I don’t apologize like, ever, so listen up.” She let go of Nicole’s arm as her eyes lifted to meet the other woman’s curious gaze. She rolled her eyes and let out a huff of a breath, “I gave you a hard time. I didn’t trust you. I’ve been a jerk to you the entire time. It wasn’t fair.”

“It was totally fair” Nicole shook the apology off quickly and offered Wynonna a sincere nod at her words. “This world is filled with creatures who want to kill you and eat your brains. You’ve been through Hell, losing your family the way you have, and you had no way of knowing if I was being honest. There is no need to apologize.”

“Fine” Wynonna shrugged as if it were no big deal. She wouldn’t argue with Nicole about it because, well, she didn’t like admitting she was wrong. She had apologized and that was all she could do. 

Nicole laughed very softly at the way Wynonna just accepted what she had said. She didn’t really know the woman that well but she felt like she was starting to understand her. She was beginning to believe that in another world they would probably be friends. She motioned with her head toward the door now “Let’s go eat. We are going to need our strength.”

“One more thing” Wynonna cleared her throat and held up her hand to stop the woman from leaving. When she had Nicole’s attention she fixed her with a soft gaze and it was easy to see in her eyes that what she was about to say was coming from somewhere deep inside her around where her heart might be if she believed that she had one. “The idea to send Waverly with the survivors?” A flicker of a smile flashed over her lips for just a blink before it dropped away and she nodded again “Thank you.”

Nicole nodded just once as a small smile lifted over her lips. She knew that the only thing Wynonna loved more than being a stubborn asshole was Waverly. “You’re welcome” She said plainly then turned and left the room without another word. They had to focus on the upcoming task and with all the rest of the drama and uncertainty and mistrust out of the way she now felt with the utmost confidence that they would be successful.

~.~.~.~.~.~.


	11. I guess I have some time to kill

After the feast, Jeremy and a few others worked to organize groups so that when the caravan came they could load up and leave as quickly as possible. Dolls had told them how important it was that they make it quick as there was a great possibility that someone might attack them and try to stop their escape. He didn’t tell them it was the boss of his organization that might be the one to attack them, of course. He did not want to cause a panic.

Dolls, Nicole, and the Earp girls huddled in privacy again while the groups worked to get organized. Waverly, even though she was being sent away, had demanded she be in on the plan. She wanted to know what was going on. She didn’t want to be left in the dark and, if something went wrong, she wanted to be able to tell whoever she needed to at The Garden what the plan had been so they could send the appropriate help. She hoped that wouldn’t be needed but she wanted to be prepared just in case.

“What about the fire bombs?” Wynonna asked as Dolls laid out the plan and made it very clear they had one Hell of a fight ahead of them.

Dolls just shook his head and dropped his eyes to the papers that were laid out on top of Waverly’s bed.

Wynonna arched an eyebrow at the response then looked over at Nicole with a confused shrug “You said something about fire bombs when you first got here, right?”

Nicole nodded quickly, looking just as confused as Wynonna. She stepped toward Dolls and gave a little shrug “What happened to the fire bombs?”

“I couldn’t get clearance for the planes” Dolls sounded defeated as his eyes lifted to find Nicole’s questioning gaze on him. “He must have suspected we weren’t using them for surveillance and made sure to keep them under lock and key.”

“What does that mean?” Wynonna looked between Nicole and Dolls a few times before finally letting her eyes settle on Nicole. “So what’s the plan?”

“We go in on foot” Nicole offered the suggestion with a shrug. “We fight like Hell and take as many out as we can, I guess.”

“You guess?” Wynonna huffed the words out in frustration and a bit of panic as she stepped toward Nicole. She motioned to the woman, then to Dolls, before throwing her hands up in defeat “I thought there was a plan? I thought X-Division was sending all this fire power to take out the zombies here for good!”

“They were,” Nicole assured Wynonna with a nod, speaking calmly. She did not want to agitate Wynonna more than she already was. “I don’t know what changed” She glanced at Dolls and just shrugged “What happened?”

“He has to know I sent you in here as a double agent. How else do you explain him showing up here? He has to be the one who shut down all of the support we had lined up.” Dolls lifted his arm in a shrugging motion.

“Who the Hell is HE?” Wynonna shouted the word and looked between Nicole and Dolls again. “There is something you aren’t telling me and I am getting really fucking sick of being left out!”

“Wynonna, calm down” Waverly said very softly as she stepped in front of her sister and put a hand on her chest to try and nudge her politely away from the other two. 

“No!” Wynonna growled as her eyes narrowed into a scowl. “They’re hiding something and I am not leaving this house and risking my life until I know what is going on.”

“Wynonna, you have to trust them. They haven’t lied yet, right?”

“She’s right, Waves” Nicole put a hand on Waverly’s shoulder from behind and gave a soft squeeze. She set a gentle gaze on the smaller woman when she looked back at her with a bit of surprise on her face. As Waverly moved out of the way and fixed Nicole with a curious look, Nicole let out a heavy sigh. She glanced between the two sisters and shrugged “I wasn’t sure when I first got here and that is why I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want to cause unnecessary worry but…” She motioned behind her to Dolls and gave a nod “He confirmed it during his last radio call. I guess now is as good a time as any to tell you.”

“Tell us what?” Waverly asked with a tremble in her voice. She could see in Nicole’s eyes that it was worse than they could have expected.

“Spit it out, Haught” Wynonna growled through her teeth as she lifted Peacemaker toward the woman “I am SO over you deciding what is important enough for me to know.”

“Calm down” Nicole lifted her hands in a gesture of surrender. Her eyes fixed calmly on Wynonna and she stared her down for a few seconds as if silently telling her she was not trying to be deceptive. She nodded when Wynonna finally gave in and lowered Peacemaker. She let out a soft sigh, lowering her hands slowly. When she spoke it was evenly but in a serious tone “Dolls and I have had our suspicions for a while about who the head of X-Division might be. We’ve been doing a lot of research and snooping because we wanted to know for sure.”

“We had to be sure before we acted” Dolls cut in as if to clarify that point. 

Nicole nodded at his words but never took her eyes off of Wynonna. “There’s a reason X-Division has secretly been building a zombie army.” She licked her lips and drew in a deep breath as if bracing herself for the truth she was about to speak. “The leader of X-Division is Doc Holliday.”

“What?” The Earp sisters yelped in surprise at the same time.

Nicole gave a nod because she understood how hard it was to believe it. “He’s still alive and he’s planning on taking over the world with his zombie army.”

Waverly’s eyes fluttered quickly before she finally closed them tightly. She drew in a deep breath and shook her head. She couldn’t believe it. She felt like she might pass out from shock.

The truth hit Wynonna in the chest like a shotgun blast. Her breath caught in her throat and she stumbled backwards as if she had physically been impacted. She reached out to put a hand on the wall, catching herself from falling over, before she let out a strangled grunt of disbelief “Holy fuck.”

Dolls glanced at Nicole and quirked a questioning eyebrow at her before motioning with his head toward the Earp sisters.

Nicole half shrugged and looked back to the other two in the room. She cleared her throat as she moved to gently put a hand on Waverly’s shoulder “Yeah, I kind of couldn’t believe it either.”

“It’s fucking insane” Wynonna spoke up as she pressed her back into the wall. She looked wide eyed at Nicole and shook her head “I mean, there was a very public funeral! Plus, you know, I thought it was, like, a hilarious exaggeration that somehow got attached to the Earp legacy. You know, the greatest gunslinger in history also accidentally created zombies. Cool story, bro.” She shook her head and looked down at Peacemaker that she was gripping so tightly her knuckles were turning white “I never actually thought it was true.”

“Really?” Nicole looked surprised to hear that. She motioned to Peacemaker and let out a soft breath of a laugh “How do you explain the fact that your gun can kill them, then?”

“I don’t fucking know, dude” Wynonna huffed and jerked her hand a few times to indicate the gun she was holding “I just thought, you know, magic or something.”

“Well yeah” Nicole snorted a laugh out but it held no amusement. She glanced at Waverly, sliding an arm around her now because it looked like she was about to fall over. She frowned in concern and whispered softly to the smaller woman “Are you okay?”

“No” Waverly shook her head and opened her eyes to look up at her. “This is crazy, Nicole. Doc Holliday is alive which means he really is a zombie which means…” She threw a hand out to the side in a weak shrug “...I don’t know what it means. Is he immortal? Why does he want to take over the world with zombies?”

“The same reason anyone ever wants to take over the world” Dolls stepped forward now and his usually stern face had softened a bit. “Power and money” He gave a nod then glanced at Wynonna with a shrug “It’s easier at the top and when you’ve lived as long as he has, why not be there as long as possible?”

“We’re going to stop him, though” Nicole nodded quickly, her eyes flipping from Waverly to Wynonna and back again. “As far as we can tell he isn’t aware that we know his real identity. This works to our advantage.”

“How?” Waverly breathed out weakly. She had to lean into Nicole because her legs felt like jello and she wasn’t sure she could stand on her own.

“We can get the jump on him and take him out” Dolls nodded as if that should have been obvious.

“Then what?” Wynonna piped up now. She pushed off the wall, having seemingly gotten a grip on herself. She shook her head as her face curled into a determined frown. “You two don’t know how deep this goes. So what if the boss is taken out? There is always someone waiting to step into his place. I wouldn’t be surprised if Bobo was the next man up.”

“Then we figure it out,” Dolls answered more sharply than intended. He was already getting sick of Wynonna’s attitude. This is why he didn’t want to include her. Civilians were too short sighted. 

“One step at a time, okay” Nicole stepped between Dolls and Wynonna before an argument could break out. “Let’s just focus on trying to figure out how to stop him first.”

Wynonna just shook her head and stuffed Peacemaker into her holster before turning and leaving the room without another word. She needed to clear her head. She needed five minutes to take everything in and just fucking think. In a matter of a few short days her entire world had changed and she was just now realizing how significantly so. She needed to breathe and try to get a handle on everything because, if she was being honest, she felt like she was lost in a downward spiral.

Waverly’s face was immediately painted with concern as she watched her sister leave the room. She somehow managed to push herself up and away from where she had been leaning into Nicole. It was as if seeing her sister upset had somehow brought all of her strength back. She glanced back at Nicole and gave a single nod “Let me go talk to her.”

Nicole just nodded. She watched Waverly leave the room before letting out a heavy sigh. She pushed a hand back through her short red hair then glanced at Dolls. Her head shook slightly at the look he was giving her. He was staring at her with a knowing smirk on his lips and she rolled her eyes at that as she reached for one of the papers that had been laid out on the bed “Focus, Agent Dolls.”

“Me?” Dolls gave a soft chuckle as he put a hand to his chest to indicate himself. “Your eyes haven’t stopped being googly for that girl since I got here. What is up with that?”

“Nothing” Nicole answered quickly but that immediately felt wrong. She knew her connection with Waverly was far from nothing. She let out another heavy sigh and looked back to Dolls with a crooked smile, “I don’t know. She’s special. She makes me feel things. I thought I was actually a zombie until I met her. Now…” She drew in a deep breath and put a hand over her heart. She felt the soft beating under her hand and just shrugged “...I forgot what being alive felt like.”

Dolls just shook his head as he gathered up the plans he had brought out and started to pack them away “Just don’t let it distract you. We still have a mission, Haught.”

“Why do you think I’m sending her away?” Nicole motioned to nowhere specifically.

“Still” Dolls looked up at her again and nodded once. “We’ve only got one shot at this.”

“I know” Nicole scowled slightly and handed over the map she had rolled up. “You don’t have to worry.”

~.~.~.~.~.~.

“I thought you’d revel in the chance to rush into the factory guns blazing” Waverly whispered, not wanting to startle her sister who was sitting on a log at the edge of their property.

Wynonna looked over her shoulder when Waverly spoke. She offered her a weak, crooked smile then shrugged and turned her eyes back toward the empty fields that stretched as far as the eye could see. “I guess I’m starting to realize the gravity of what that really entails.”

“Are you scared?” Waverly frowned as she moved to sit beside her sister.

Wynonna shook her head then dropped her eyes to the snow beneath her feet. She used the toes of her right foot to crush a few chunks of ice. She drew in a deep breath and after a few moments of thought she looked over at her sister “The only thing I’ve ever really thought about was keeping you safe, babygirl. I guess I never realized that in order to accomplish that in the long run, it would all eventually lead to this.”

“Nicole and Agent Dolls know what they are doing,” Waverly assured her with a nod as she gently reached back to start rubbing her sister’s back up and down in slow, comforting strokes. “All you have to do is point and shoot, Wynonna. The gun will take care of the rest.”

Wynonna let out a displeased snort as she reached for Peacemaker. She pulled it from the holster and held it out in front of her. She examined it for a few moments, almost like she was seeing it for the first time, before she shook her head and glanced at her sister “Even if we kill him, you and I both know the gun can’t leave Purgatory.” She let out a heavy sigh and slowly lifted her eyes to settle on her sister more seriously “You’ll be safe and I’ll be stuck here alone.”

“No you won’t” Waverly shook her head quickly and turned to face her sister now. She moved to put both of her hands on Wynonna’s shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes. “You can come with us to The Garden. You won’t need Peacemaker there. We will both be safe. We will never have to fight zombies again.”

“I don’t have a plan, Waverly” Wynonna’s bit sharply. She realized immediately that her reaction was uncalled for and she quickly shook her head at herself. She let out a defeated sounding sigh and shrugged her shoulders “I never thought my life would be anything more than fighting zombies until the day we died. I didn’t make a backup plan. I never dreamed about the day we were safe and could have a normal fucking life because I never thought we would get the chance.”

“So?” Waverly frowned as her hands started to rub up and down her sister’s arms gently. “It’s never too late to start thinking about that.”

“I don’t know where to even start” Wynonna huffed and threw one of her arms out to the side in frustration. “You’ve read every book in the library and watched and rewatched all the old movies we could find. You have been building a dream life for years, Waverly.” She motioned at herself with a grunt and shook her head “I thought that was pointless because it wasn’t an option. I’m not sure I have any interests!”

Waverly gave a single nod. She leaned in and touched a very light kiss to her sister’s cheek before pulling back and setting a loving smile on her lips “Then we figure it out together.”

“Whatever” Wynonna rolled her eyes in fake annoyance. She hated that her sister had always been so cheerful and optimistic. She also hated that she had somehow convinced her to be excited about the future. She shook her head and turned her eyes away from Waverly. She looked back at Peacemaker in her hand and suddenly felt sad. She knew leaving Purgatory to start a new life would mean leaving the gun behind. Other than Waverly, it was her best friend. It just felt wrong to think about leaving it to start a new life after all the three of them had been through together.

She shook off the feeling because she knew it was dumb. Like a switch she managed to turn off any sort of emotions about it all. She looked back up at Waverly and gave her a tiny smirk “You’ll be too busy macking on Laura Kinney to help me get my life together.”

“Who?” Waverly blinked in confusion then let out a laugh.

Wynonna looked almost appalled that her sister had not gotten the reference “X-23? Wolverine’s lady clone?” When Waverly showed no real recognition to what she was saying, she let out an offended sounding gasp “I have failed you! That’s it, when we get out of here you are going to read every graphic novel in my collection. You better take notes because you bet your ass there is going to be a quiz.”

Waverly laughed and rolled her eyes at her sister. She was glad that despite the fact that her sister was terrified she was able to maintain her sense of humor. It was one of the many great qualities her sister possessed although Waverly would never admit to it because it would only serve to encourage Wynonna to continue to be obnoxious. “What do you say?” She asked as she stood up and offered her hand down to her sister “Wanna go save the world?”

Wynonna eyed her sister up and down as if she were seriously considering her options. After a moment she shrugged casually and reached up to take Waverly’s hand “Yeah, I guess I have some time to kill.”

Waverly let out a soft laugh as she helped her sister to her feet. She stepped over the log then waited for Wynonna to do the same before they headed back toward the Homestead. They fell quiet as they moved and it grew increasingly obvious that the lightness had been left on the log. As the Homestead grew larger in front of them a heaviness settled in around them. This was it. In a short time they would be separated for the first time in their lives. A sadness washed over Waverly at the thought. She did not want to leave. She hated the idea. “Wynonna, I-”

“You have to go” Wynonna had already known what her sister was going to say. She paused just outside the backdoor of the Homestead now and turned to face Waverly. She grabbed a hold of both shoulders, looking deeply into her sister’s eyes, and spoke firmly “Nicole is right. I won’t be able to focus if I’m worried about you.”

Waverly felt tears form in her eyes immediately. She shook her head in argument but couldn’t speak because of the swell of emotion that had suddenly settled in her throat. Instead, she lunged at her sister and wrapped her up in an embrace heavy with the dread hanging over them. 

Wynonna fought off a wave of emotion that crashed over her when Waverly’s arms consumed her. She drew in a shaky breath and closed her eyes as she returned the hug tightly. She squeezed with all the strength she had and held her sister like that for as long as she could manage. 

Neither of them knew how long they stayed in the embrace. When they finally pulled away from one another it was because neither of them had the strength to hold the other any longer. Wynonna cleared her throat, wiping away the few tears that had slipped from her eyes. She then reached out and did her best to dry her sister’s cheeks. Waverly had sobbed until she ran out of tears. Wynonna cupped her face in her hands and gave a single nod “You’re the greatest thing in this entire world, babygirl. Don’t let anyone, ever, make you feel anything less than that, alright?”

“If they do I know you’ll kick their ass” Waverly laughed out weakly before sniffling and wiping her sleeve under her nose. 

Wynonna agreed with a single nod and offered her sister a weak smile. She wasn’t sure why but there was a part of her that didn’t think she would be there to kick someone’s ass for her sister. Maybe it was the heavy, unrelenting feeling of dread that was currently residing in the pit of her stomach. Either way she tried to push it away and put on a brave face for Waverly “Let’s go pack your bags.”

Waverly nodded and wiped at her nose once more before they turned and headed into the house together for the last time.

~.~.~.~.~.~

Wynonna was walking awkwardly around Waverly’s room, pretending to look at a few things on her shelves, glancing at her sister every now and then. The truth was, the closer the caravan drew the more nervous Wynonna got. She wasn’t really sure she would be able to actually say goodbye and let her sister go. It was a terrifying thought.

“I’m going to be safe” Waverly mumbled softly as she glanced up from neatly packing her suitcase. She offered a slight smile then looked back at what she was doing “But if you’re having second thoughts then I am totally cool with staying.”

“Nice try” Wynonna huffed out a laugh and moved over to where Waverly had her things laid out on top of her bed. She reached down and grabbed one of her shirts, pretending to help fold it as her eyes settled on her sister “You have to leave because one of us has to carry on the Earp legacy.”

“Don’t say things like that” Waverly frowned and snatched the shirt her sister held with a scowl. “You’re not going to die, Wynonna. You can’t go into this fight thinking that.”

Wynonna just shrugged a single shoulder and pushed one of the corners of her lips up in a twitch of an apologetic smirk. She then sighed and looked at her feet “Just preparing for the worst.”

“Listen” Waverly tossed what she was working on into her suitcase and looked up at her sister with a serious stare. “You can do this, okay? You have to do this because no one else can and if it doesn’t end now it never will.”

“Oh great, no pressure” Wynonna rolled her eyes and looked away from her sister.

“I mean it” Waverly reached up and cupped her sister’s face. She pulled it until she brought her eyes back to meet her own. She fixed her eyes firmly on Wynonna’s and nodded once “You are the only one who can end this. It’s in your blood. It has always been you.”

Wynonna felt a shutter go through her that was caused by the intensity in Waverly’s tone. She made it sound like this was some sort of destiny which, quite frankly, she did not believe in. But, now, standing in front of Waverly looking at her that way, she totally believed it. She gave a weak nod of her head and managed a very slight smile “If you say so then it must be true.”

Waverly lifted onto her toes while tipping Wynonna’s head forward. She placed a light kiss to the top of her forehead then released her sister’s face as she stepped away from her. She smiled fondly at her before turning and going back to packing.

“Caravan is two minutes out” Nicole knocked on the doorframe of the bedroom and poked her head inside. She had been letting the sisters be alone so they could say goodbye. She was also working on a plan with Dolls so they could get to work as soon as everyone was safe.

“Thanks” Wynonna glanced at the woman then looked at her sister. She moved over to Waverly and put a hand on her shoulder. She watched her sister zip up her suitcase then gave a nod when she looked up at her. She let out a sigh then gave a little shrug “Okay, well, I guess this is really happening so, um…” She cleared her throat and shrugged again “...I am not really going to get mushy here, more for my sake than yours, so…”

“Just promise me something” Waverly could feel herself starting to choke on her emotions. She wiped at a stray tear that had escaped her eyes then focused firmly on her sister. “When the shit hits the fan make sure you take Doc out first.”

Wynonna snorted at the idea because Waverly said it in such a casual way that made it sound as if it was the easiest thing in the world. She gave a single nod and smirked sarcastically “Yeah, sure, no problem. I’ll just march right up to him and stick Peacemaker down his throat.”

“I mean it” Waverly nodded seriously now as she lifted the suitcase off the bed. “Cut off the head of the snake and the body dies.”

“You think the zombies are just going to…” Wynonna threw a hand out to the side in a half shrug “....surrender because one of them dies? Come on, I heard what Bobo said, these guys are power hungry and they won’t stop until they are in control.”

“Just do it” Waverly looked at her sister firmly, showing her that she had never been more serious in her life. “We have to make an impact and there might never be another chance to take him out again.”

“Okay, yeah” Wynonna was a little surprised by how stubborn her sister was being about this. She wouldn’t argue anymore. She just gave a nod and wrapped her arms around her in a gentle hug “I’ll do my best.”

“I love you, Wynonna” Waverly drew in a deep breath and closed her eyes as she buried her face against her sister’s shoulder. Her arms squeezed tightly and she felt herself wanting to cry again. But she wouldn’t. She had to be strong. She knew if Wynonna saw her crying it would be harder for her to let her go. As much as she wanted to stay she knew leaving was for the best. She had to go. So she pulled back from the embrace and pushed away the tears threatening to spill before giving a slight nod of her head “You got this.”

“I love you, babygirl” Wynonna choked on the words as she pulled out of the hug. She wiped a tear off her cheek then cleared her throat and motioned to the door. “Let’s get down there before Haught comes back and starts bossing us around.”

The heaviness of impending doom settled in again as Wynonna helped Waverly with her suitcase down the stairs to join the rest of the group. There was an excited energy that was palpable as everyone waited for the caravan to arrive. 

As soon as the first black SUV was seen approaching on the horizon an outburst of happiness erupted through the group. This was it. This was really happening. The humans who had been captured and tortured by Bobo and his little army were finally going to be safe. For some of them, they had given up hope long ago. Now there was a renewed sense of possibility.

“Alright everyone, you know your assigned vehicle. Let’s head out there so we can get you loaded and on the road as soon as possible” Dolls spoke above the excited chatter then motioned for everyone to follow him out onto the land of the Homestead.

As the group filed out of the house, Wynonna and Waverly lingered behind. They were the last two inside. Wynonna let out a heavy sigh and reached down to grab her sister’s suitcase. She offered a crooked attempt at a smile then extended her arm out so Waverly could take her bag “I’m not going out there.”

“What? Why?” Waverly looked completely offended as she reached for her suitcase.

“Too hard” Wynonna shook her head and drew in a sharp breath in an attempt to fight back her tears. “We’ve said goodbye a handful of times already, what does it matter if I say it once more outside?”

“Wynonna, I-”

“Just-” Wynonna lifted a hand to stop her sister’s pleas for her to change her mind. She stepped over to her, pressed a kiss to her forehead, then let out a sigh and stepped back. She fixed her eyes lovingly but sadly on Waverly before nodding once “Get out of here.”

Waverly knew this was how it had to be but that didn’t make it hurt any less. She felt tears streaming down her face as she gave her sister one last smile before turning as fast as she could and hurrying from the Homestead. 

Nicole was standing on the porch waiting. She looked surprised when Waverly rushed out without Wynonna by her side. She frowned and caught up with her quickly, sliding a hand over her back as she walked beside her “Is everything okay?”

“Nothing is okay, Nicole. That’s the point” Waverly wiped at her eyes but kept her focus on the black SUVs ahead of her. She had to keep focused or she would never leave.

“Where’s Wynonna?” Nicole glanced in confusion back toward the house before looking at Waverly curiously.

“Forget about it, alright?” Waverly finally stopped at the back of the group she had been assigned to ride with. When she looked up at Nicole her face was red and her eyes puffy from crying. She shook her head and swallowed the lump in her throat “You’ll take care of her?”

“I promise” Nicole repeated the vow she had already made without any hesitation. She reached out and gently cupped at one of Waverly’s cheeks. She used her thumb to swipe away any tear that trickled down “I’ve got you, Earp. Both of you.”

Waverly somehow mustered more tears as she collapsed into Nicole’s arms. She held onto the woman as if she were the very last shred of hope she had in the world. She knew her sister was strong and brave but she also knew she was scared. Nicole was the only thing close to any assurance that Wynonna would make it out unscathed. The woman who was a stranger just a few days prior now held the responsibility of Waverly’s world completely in her hands.

Nicole didn’t speak. She just held onto Waverly for as long as she could with the hope that it helped. She wished she could do more. She wished this wasn’t how it had to be. Unfortunately there was no other option. With Waverly sent away to safety there would be no distractions for Wynonna, no distractions for herself, and that was the best bet they had if they were going to succeed.

As the last SUV pulled up and the final group of survivors started to load in, Nicole pulled back from the hug. She tucked her fingers under Waverly’s chin and pulled until the woman lifted her eyes to meet her gaze. “Go” She whispered softly and tried to smile but it never really curled up at the corners of her mouth.

“You come back to me too, alright?” Waverly’s voice sounded as if she were speaking through a bubble.

“I promise” Nicole whispered before leaning down to touch a very light kiss to Waverly’s mouth. 

Waverly enjoyed the kiss, only briefly, before she pulled away. If she stood there kissing Nicole any longer she would not leave. She forced herself to turn away. She grabbed her suitcase, handed it to one of the men sent from X-Division to help, then crawled into the vehicle.

Nicole drew in a deep breath and kept her eyes on Waverly, even after the door was shut. She focused on the outline of Waverly’s face through the darkened windows. She stared at her for as long as possible, even when the SUV started to drive away. She didn’t blink until the last black vehicle in the motorcade disappeared over the horizon.

As soon as the SUVs were out of sight, Nicole exhaled sharply. She felt a pang of guilt in her stomach. She had just made a promise she wasn’t sure she could keep. She knew without a doubt that this was something she was prepared for. She had been training for it. She had known for many years that some sort of final battle might come one day but she had never expected it would be like this. She never thought she would be fighting the head of the very organization that had made her who she is. She never thought she would go into a fight being severely outnumbered. She couldn’t have imagined she would care whether she won or lost because she never had anything to lose before. For the first time in longer than she remembered she was scared to die because she now had something to live for.

“You ready?” Dolls came up behind Nicole and put a hand on her shoulder. 

Nicole nodded without saying a word. She turned around and headed for the house. She had flipped that switch in her and was back in soldier mode. She had a mission to carry out and she would not be stopped. There was more on the line now than ever before and she was determined to make sure she did everything she could to put a stop to Doc’s plan to destroy all of humanity. If she couldn’t put a stop to it, well then, she was going to go down fighting and make sure to leave one Hell of a dent.

Wynonna had been watching from the window but as soon as she saw Nicole and Doc heading her way she quickly moved away and went to the kitchen. She gathered three glasses and the bottle of whiskey she always managed to have. They had raided Shorty’s a while ago, when their father was still alive, and taken all the alcohol from the basement. The bottle she had now was one of the very last ones. This probably should have been her first clue that the end of times was near.

By the time Nicole and Dolls made it inside, Wynonna had poured a little whiskey into each glass and was sitting at the kitchen table waiting for them. 

“Wynonna?” Nicole called out curiously having expected to be greeted by the woman at the door.

“In here, Haught” Wynonna called out before pouring the whiskey she had in her cup down her throat. She refilled her glass while she waited for the other two to join her. Once they walked into the kitchen she motioned to the table and gave a single nod to indicate she wanted them to sit.

Dolls and Nicole shared a glance before Nicole stepped forward and pulled the chair out from the table in order to sit. It was crazy to think that just a few days prior she had been interrogated at this very table. Now, though, she was being freely invited. Funny how dire times could change the outlook of a person.

Wynonna waited for Dolls to sit too. Once everyone was settled, she sat up straight, lifted her glass, and motioned to the other two to follow suit. Once the others had lifted their glass in the same way, she gestured toward them both in a cheers motion “Here’s to the end of the world.”

“Wynonna, it’s not the end of the world” Nicole frowned.

“The end of the fucking world as we know it, then. Just drink” Wynonna put her cup to her lips, tossed her head back, and closed her eyes as the alcohol burned all the way down her throat. Once her mouth was cleared, she opened her eyes and focused on the other two, already pouring more alcohol into her own glass as she waited for them to finish their first drink. She gave a satisfied smirk once the other glasses were cleared and she offered the bottle toward them for a refill “When do we head out?”

“Tonight” Dolls nodded, watching Wynonna refill his glass. “Move in the dark and hopefully get a jump on him. Luckily, they are still recovering from the explosion. That works to our advantage.”

Wynonna nodded at the words but turned her focus to Nicole. She watched herself refill the woman’s glass for a moment before her eyes lifted and she caught her gaze. There was a flash of a moment where Wynonna’s tough exterior faded and she showed just how scared she was. It was only a moment, though. She cleared her throat and set the bottle down “Until then, we drink.”

“Wynonna, I really need you to focus and I don’t think-”

“Total offense, Haught, but this is how I focus” Wynonna threw another shot back then reached for the bottle once more. She fixed her eyes on Nicole and, again, for a split second her stare revealed just how scared she was. She then blinked it away and took another shot.

Nicole felt her gut twist with a sensation she didn’t really understand. The way Wynonna was looking at her affected her unexpectedly. She knew she had connected with Waverly on a level she couldn’t explain but somehow, it seemed, she had also grown to care for Wynonna as well. Seeing the fear in her eyes, even briefly, knotted her insides up around themselves. There was more riding on this than Nicole could have guessed. So instead of arguing anymore, she drank.

The three of them sat around the table like that, not really talking, taking drink after drink until the bottle was empty. Then, they went to work. They gathered supplies, ran over the plan a few more times, then sat and waited. They waited for the sun to set. They waited to hear confirmation that the caravan had made it safely out of the Ghost River Triangle. Then, after all that, they waited just a little longer. Once it was too dark to see anything more than a few feet in front of them they packed their gear and headed right into the eye of the storm. This was it. Tomorrow they’d be heroes or they’d be dead. Either way, the world as they knew it was going to end.

~.~.~.~.~.~.~


	12. Alright, well, let’s stop standing around with our thumbs up our asses

The thundering in Wynonna’s chest was so hard and so loud it started to give her a headache. She had never been this scared in her entire life. As the three of them sat huddled in a thicket just outside the fence line of what remained of the factory she felt the sense of dread that had been tagging along with her start to intensify by the moment.

“Earp? Earth to Earp” Dolls whispered and snapped in front of her face to get her attention. When he saw the woman blink and turn her attention to him he let out a frustrated huff “Did you hear what I just said?”

“No” Wynonna admitted with a little shrug. It was plain to see she was scared. She wanted to put on a brave face but right now that just didn’t seem possible. “Are you sure about this?”

“Will you just listen?” Dolls growled and pointed at the quick diagram of the factory he had drawn up on paper before leaving the Homestead. “If we go in through the blast site we should be able to reach the central vent system without detection.”

“This is stupid” Wynonna shook her head then pointed over her shoulder toward the structure just a few dozen yards away. “They’re all on the lookout right now. There is no way we can get inside.”

“That is why we have the diversion” Dolls rolled his eyes and looked from Wynonna to Nicole “She’s useless.”

“Hey!” Wynonna yelped in offense.

“Watch your mouth” Nicole growed at Dolls in defense of her friend. That was a funny thought. Was Wynonna her friend? She had to shake that off because now was not the time. She could revisit that later. 

Dolls looked between the two women and shook his head “She doesn’t look like she can handle this.”

“I can handle it” Wynonna grumbled in defiance as she pointed sharply at her own chest. “I am the goddamn Earp heir.”

“I don’t know what that means” Dolls mumbled dismissively as he looked back down at his map. “All I know is you look terrified.”

“I am,” Wynonna admitted plainly, then looked at Nicole with wide eyes “Aren’t you?”

Nicole nodded ever so slightly before fixing the woman with a very tender smile. She had to admit she liked the vulnerable side of Wynonna. Yeah, sure, she was a tough bitch that didn’t take shit from anyone, and Nicole liked that too, but it was nice to see the woman actually had a heart. “We got this, Earp. Just take a deep breath and focus.”

The fact that Nicole looked her right in the eyes and spoke calmly and it actually worked really confused the Hell out of Wynonna just then. It was weird because the only person who could ever calm her down before was Waverly. She blinked a few times as that fact washed over her. Then, just as quickly, she shook it off. She drew in a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, then breathed it out with a nod “You’re right. I was being a little bitch just then. I’m good to go now.”

Nicole laughed very softly at Wynonna’s terminology but said nothing more as she turned and looked back at the map. “If we want to enter here, we need the diversion to pull as many of the horde away from that point as possible.”

“I plan on using this” Dolls reached into his coat and pulled out an old grenade. He held it up, looking at it almost proudly, before nodding in approval at himself. “I swiped it out of the armory before I left.”

“Holy shit” Wynonna’s eyes went wide when she saw the grenade. She had never seen one in person. She gave a single nod of approval at Dolls and smiled “Yep I think that will do just fine.”

“Okay, so…” Nicole was smiling as she eyed the grenade. It was a good plan and, hey, she personally liked the chaos of an explosion. “When do you wanna do it?”

“Now” Dolls shrugged then motioned toward the factory. “It’s the dead of night and even though they have…” He poked his head up out of the thicket they were huddled in to take a look. After a few seconds he settled back down in the safety of the bushes and nodded “...a lot of guards out right now I still think it’s our best bet. Everyone else is probably asleep and there will be such mass hysteria and confusion that it will make getting inside easier.”

“What is our backup plan?” Wynonna put a hand over the grenade and looked Dolls straight in the eyes. “Say we are sneaking in and someone catches us. What then?”

“That’s when the guns start blazing” Dolls motioned to where Peacemaker was tucked snuggly against Wynonna’s hip.

“This will work” Nicole put a hand on Wynonna’s shoulder to try and quell her worries. “Just be quiet and follow our lead.”

Wynonna gave a nod and looked down at her gun. She sure as Hell hoped this worked because if they had to go to plan B, even with her magic gun, she wasn’t so sure they would make it out alive. She really wanted to make it out alive. Like, never in her life had she wanted to be alive so badly. 

“Are we ready?” Dolls scooped up the map and a few other things he had taken out of his bag and stuffed them in haphazardly. Once they were secured and in place, he looked at the other two beside him.

“Screw it. Let’s do this” Wynonna gave a single nod then motioned toward the factory. “You better toss the shit out of that thing. If I explode because you throw like a girl I am going to be really pissed off.”

Nicole stifled a laugh. She liked that all of Wynonna’s nervous energy and distrust was now focused on Dolls. She very much enjoyed the woman’s jokes when they weren’t aimed at her.

“Here goes nothing” Dolls pulled the pin from the grenade, stood straight up out of the bush, whipped his hand forward, and watched the grenade sail into the darkness.

~.~.~.~.~.~

“Shhh” Dolls lifted a finger to his mouth and motioned for the others behind him to back up into the shadows. The grenade had served its purpose and created enough of a distraction to allow the three of them to slip inside the factory. Unfortunately the ventilation system was damaged in the explosion and it was too unstable to traverse. Now they had to sneak through the shadows of the factory on foot, slipping from room to room, in search of where Doc was hiding.

A few zombies trudged by and around the corner of the corridor they were currently in. Once they passed the three of them stayed still and waited to see if more were coming before they decided to move.

Dolls motioned for the others to follow silently and soon they were creeping to a new room. They worked like that, slowly and methodically, avoiding any zombies they ran into by ducking into the nearest empty doorway and waiting for them to pass.

After a while, Wynonna let out a heavy sigh. “This is taking too long. Do we even know where we are going?”

“We’re looking for Doc” Dolls whispered in annoyance then lifted his hand to his lips “Now, shush.”

“Are we even sure he is here?” Wynonna ignored Dolls impolite attempt to silence her and turned to look at Nicole. “Did you confirm that he even arrived?”

“It was on the radio” Dolls answered as he turned to scowl sharply through the darkness around them. Their eyes were adjusted to the low light by now making it possible to make out each other’s faces and other details and it was easy to see how annoyed he was by the way his glare settled on her. “They still believe I’m operating at his behest so I am in constant contact with HQ.”

Wynonna curled her lips into a scowl and her nose scrunched up as she silently worked her mouth to mock how he had just talked to her. She then rolled her eyes and looked at Nicole “You’ve been on the inside. Do you have any idea where he might be?”

“He’s probably in the main office” Nicole nodded at the idea then looked between Dolls and Wynonna. “That is where Bobo was holed up when I was here. I’d bet my life that is where they have Doc. It’s centrally located with only one way in and one way out. It’s in the middle of a larger room with windows on all sides. No way to sneak attack someone in there. They will see you coming.”

“Perfect” Wynonna grumbled and looked at Dolls. She arched an eyebrow, almost as if challenging him, as she spoke “How do you suppose we get in there?”

Dolls gave an irritated snort and looked away. He was quiet for a moment, looking deep in thought, before he gave a nod. He glanced at Nicole and motioned his head in the direction of the corridor just outside the door they were huddled in “Do you remember how to get there?”

“Absolutely” Nicole gave an affirmative nod. “But, I told you, we can’t sneak up on them.”

“Just get us as close as you can” Dolls shrugged off Nicole’s concern about being spotted. “We will figure it out once we have an idea of what kind of protection we are dealing with.”

Nicole nodded again then glanced at Wynonna. She eyed her carefully then motioned with her head toward Dolls “You good with that?”

“What other choice do we have?” Wynonna threw her hands up in a shrugging motion then flicked one of her hands toward the doorway to indicate she would follow where she was led.

Satisfied with that answer, Dolls nodded then turned toward Nicole. He motioned toward the doorway as well to indicate she should take the lead. He then fell in behind her, lifted his gun at the ready just in case, and glanced around in search of any trouble as they moved.

~.~.~.~.~.~.

Nicole motioned silently across the hallway into the open office type area that they were now huddled near. They had made their way through the factory to the heart of it where they had suspected Doc would be holed up. The area was a maze of small cubicles with the main office on the far wall. The walls between that office and where they were huddled were half walls with windows at the tops to act as dividers between each cubicle. It would be almost impossible to sneak up on the main office without being seen. 

Dolls’ eyes scanned the area as he tried to put together a plan. The area was pretty dark and it seemed like most of the zombies in the factory were elsewhere. Across the open area, though, there was a dim light in the large office and it was easy to see Doc and Bobo huddled around the desk looking at something.

“Let’s just march up to the door and kick it in” Wynonna spoke in a whisper with a shrug. “We have them outnumbered right now. What are we waiting for?”

“There is no way they are unguarded” Dolls shook his head and glanced over his shoulder at Wynonna with a roll of his eyes. “There are probably a few zombies roaming around keeping watch.”

“Do you see any?” Wynonna stood upright now and motioned with Peacemaker around the seemingly abandoned area in front of them. “I say we don’t wait for them to come back.”

“Will you shut up? You are going to give away our-” Dolls was cut off by the sound of a gun cocking behind him. He stood up slowly and lifted his hands in a gesture of surrender. He threw a glare at Wynonna as he got to his feet.

“That’s right, nice and easy” A zombie that had come out of nowhere had a gun pressed into the back of Doll’s head.

This surprised everyone but mostly Nicole. She hadn’t heard him coming. He must have been moving slowly enough that her heightened senses didn’t pick up on him.

“No one try anything funny” The zombie glanced at the other two while pushing the barrel of the gun deeper into the back of Dolls’ head. “We are all going to take a nice slow walk together.” He motioned with his head toward the central office where Doc and Bobo were still huddled over the desk. 

“Earp” Dolls growled in frustration as his eyes settled on the woman. “You remember plan B?”

Wynonna thought Dolls was going to lecture her for a moment before he quickly spoke about plan B. She gave a quick nod and without hesitation she lifted Peacemaker and shot the zombie in the head.

The single gunshot revealed their position. Before the dead zombie hit the floor there was a flurry of gunfire coming from several different directions.

Dolls dove back into the doorway of the room they had been huddled near.

Nicole grabbed Wynonna and pulled her into the room at the same time. Once they were inside Nicole worked quickly to tip a heavy shelving unit over to barricade the door.

Soon it was obvious they were pinned in that small room. The blanket of bullets unleashed by the hidden zombies shot out the two windows of the room they’d dove into. As gunfire ricocheted and pinged off various pipes and shelves around them, the three of them looked at each other in questioning of how they were going to get out of this.

Wynonna peeked her head up to look out one of the tiny windows to try and get an idea of how many zombies were out there. In the quick glance she saw at least ten. She let out a sigh and dropped back down to where they were safely crouched behind the thick concrete walls. Luckily it was dark and the zombies didn’t have powerful enough weapons to break through the wall. Yet.

“Thank you, so much, for this” Dolls growled at Wynonna with a shake of his head.

“My bad, man” Wynonna huffed and gave a shrug. “It’s the dead of night and we blew this shit up. How was I supposed to know there were this many hiding out?”

“Because I told you that was probably what was going on” Dolls snapped in frustration.

“Guys” Nicole put a hand on both of their shoulders to try and stop their arguing. “This isn’t helping. We need a plan.”

“I don’t know about you two, but…” Wynonna turned and stood slightly to look out of the window again. She dodged an incoming bullet then lifted Peacemaker and shot a few rounds blindly. When she looked out after her shots she saw at least one zombie was down and she smirked triumphantly at that. She turned and crouched back down, looking at the other two with a shrug “...I am going to point and shoot and hope I get lucky.”

“That’s all well and good for the girl with the magic gun” Nicole threw a panicked gesture at Peacemaker then huffed out in frustration “But our guns will only slow them down.”

“Well can’t you do some of your ninja shit like before?” Wynonna offered then turned around and blindly shot again.

“Only if I want to be overpowered and killed” Nicole huffed then reached out to pull Wynonna back down to safety. “Will you focus?”

“I got another one” Wynonna motioned behind herself proudly with a smile.

“I think she might be onto something” Dolls motioned to Wynonna but nodded at Nicole. “We can distract them, right? Unload a blanket of bullets back and forth over the room. They will either take cover or be hit. That will give Earp some time to take aim and take a few out before they start firing again.”

“See?” Wynonna motioned excitedly at Dolls with a smile. “Now that is the first plan I’ve totally agreed with this entire time.”

“That…” Nicole started to argue then looked at the other two. She took a moment to look around the room that they were trapped in before eventually shrugging and bringing her eyes back to the others “...I guess that is the only plan we have. Let’s try it.”

Dolls gave an affirmative nod then looked at Wynonna. “Okay, Haught and I will unload out of this window-” He motioned above him to the second window in the room “-you stay close to the other one. As soon as their gunfire stops, you start shooting. Get as many as you can.”

“Aye aye” Wynonna gave a sarcastic salute then moved into position. She crouched just under the window, her back against the wall, awaiting her cue to fire. 

Dolls and Nicole each stuck the barrels of their guns out of the window above them. They waited for a few seconds to silently agree which direction they were going to shoot, using hand gestures and pointing to communicate, before they finally braced themselves just under the window, took a breath, then stood and began to fire.

Wynonna moved to be able to peek out of her window so she could watch the damage. As soon as the gunfire from Dolls and Nicole started, there was a large number of Zombies that took cover. A few that didn’t were hit with stray bullets that had bounced off of one of the many metal pipes filling the large open space near the ceiling of the factory.

“Go” Dolls hissed at Wynonna as soon as he and Nicole dropped away from the window.

Without hesitation, Wynonna slid the barrel of Peacemaker through the window and took aim at the few zombies she could see. She fired off three rounds in quick succession. With each bullet there was a wail of agony to indicate a zombie had been vanquished. 

“Go” Wynonna turned away from the window as Dolls and Nicole hopped back up to action.

It carried on like that for a couple of minutes. Wynonna managed to take out at least two zombies each time she fired Peacemaker through the window. The plan was working but it was also obvious that they were hardly making a dent. Each zombie Wynonna managed to kill was quickly replaced. Dolls and Nicole would run out of ammo before they would be able to make enough of a dent to manage an escape from the room.

“Guys, we’re screwed” Wynonna drew in a deep breath and dropped away from the window. She gave her head a shake as her eyes focused on the others “I have never been great at math but even I know how badly we are outnumbered.”

“And this is my last clip” Dolls grumbled as he pushed the clip into his gun to reload it.

Nicole let out a sigh and lifted enough to peek out of the window. There was no way they could fight their way out. Even if the horde didn’t have weapons they would be easily swarmed and overpowered. Her head shook in defeat as she crouched away from the window “What now?”

Wynonna took a moment to peek out of the window again. She scanned the room. It looked like the zombies had solved the same math equation Wynonna had and they were content to just wait for them to run out of ammo. Then something occurred to her. She saw Doc, standing in the middle of the open area, a gun in his hand and a smirk on his face. She dropped away from the window and looked at the other two with wild eyes “I’m going to take out Doc.”

“How?” Nicole motioned toward where the horde was gathered outside their tiny sanctuary “He’s surrounded. He has a gun. You wouldn’t make it a foot out the door before you were shot.”

“I don’t care” Wynonna shook off Nicole’s concerns. “The last thing Waverly said to me was to make sure to take Doc out when shit hit the fan.” She motioned vaguely around the predicament they found themselves in and shrugged “I would say the shit has hit the fan and is now covering every inch of this place.”

“You can’t go out there” Nicole shook her head adamantly now. “There is no way you can get to Doc right now.”

“I am going to die in here, Nicole” Wynonna’s tone was devoid of sarcasm as she looked Nicole dead in the eyes. “I came to terms with that fact before Waverly left. I made a promise to my little sister and I will be damned if the last thing I do is disappoint her. So…” She motioned again toward the door of their tiny safe room and gave a single, firm nod “...I am going to take that fucker out and hope, somehow, it makes a difference.”

“Wynonna, take a moment to just think about what you are saying” Nicole’s words trembled from her lips as she spoke. “There is another way, okay? We have time to figure it out.”

“I am done figuring shit out, Nicole” Wynonna tried to bite back but her tone didn’t hold any real sting. She let out a heavy sigh as her head shook “I’ve been doing this my entire life. I have figured out how to keep us alive. I have figured out how to hunt and kill these dipshits in a way that kept us safe. I’m tired.” She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. She held it for a few moments, letting it warm her entire being, before she let it out slowly. When her eyes came open she gave a nod “I want to make an impact. It doesn’t matter how many we kill, they will just hunt down more humans and replace them. But this…” She motioned vaguely behind herself now with a sense of urgency rising in her tone “...I can be the one to take out Doc Holliday. Do what Wyatt didn’t have the stones to do.” She snorted at that and gave another shake of her head “Waverly was right. I have always been the one that had to do this. So, fuck it.”

“You don’t have-”

Wynonna lifted a hand to stop Nicole from arguing again. She stood now and gave a single nod “If taking out Doc is as important as Waverly said it is then that’s my plan.” She shrugged plainly, as if putting a period on her statement. She fixed her eyes on Nicole and after a moment offered the tiniest little smirk “You with me or not?”

Nicole stared up at Wynonna for a few moments to let her plan sink in. After thinking about it she gave a single nod and stood up “You know I’m with you Earp.” She offered her hand out for Wynonna to shake “I’ve got your back.” As soon as Wynonna took her hand she pulled the woman in close and wrapped her free arm around her. It was a mix between a handshake and a hug and it was admittedly awkward but it was necessary. Nicole needed Wynonna to feel, even for a split second, that she did in fact care for her as well.

“Well while you two were having a moment, I found this” Dolls interrupted bluntly and lifted what looked like a baking sheet. He then motioned to the back of the small storage room they were in and nodded proudly “There’s a bunch of scrap metal in here. We can probably build you some makeshift armor so you stand a chance while you charge into the fire fight.”

Wynonna cleared her throat to rid it of the tiny bit of emotion that had swelled up when Nicole hugged her. She nodded in agreement to Dolls’ plan and stepped away from the other woman to make her way toward the scraps of metal. She started to rummage through and after a moment she turned back around and looked at the other two “Well, don’t just stand there. Let’s make me Optimus Prime.”

Dolls and Nicole hurried over and soon the three of them were piecing together enough scraps to give Wynonna a fighting chance. They were able to find plates big enough to cover both her chest and her back. They even found what might have been a bowl at one point that they strapped to her head. After a few minutes of work Wynonna looked like a kid who was pretending to be a robot with whatever pans they could find in their kitchen.

“Well it doesn’t have to be pretty it just needs to protect me until I can get a good shot” Wynonna shrugged and looked over herself. She looked ridiculous. Her arms and legs were mostly unprotected but it was a risk she was willing to take. She was sure the scrap metal wouldn’t hold up for too long anyway so she wasn’t expecting it to actually save her life. She just needed it to last long enough for her to get a well aimed shot at Doc. After that, well…

She shook the thought of being killed by a shower of bullets out of her head and looked back up at the other two in the room. She pressed a straight mouthed smile across her lips and gave a single shoulder shrug “I guess this is it.”

“Are you sure about this?” Nicole asked once more even though she knew that Wynonna had already made up her mind. 

Wynonna looked up into Nicole’s eyes and gave a nod. As their eyes locked there was a flash of nervousness in Wynonna’s gaze. No one in their right mind would be willing to march to their death without feeling at least a little hesitant about it, right?

She shook it off again and looked away from Nicole. She cleared her throat and stepped away from the others. She pulled out Peacemaker and used the gun to point at the door that was blocked by the overturned shelf that Nicole had put there as a barricade. “Let’s get this out of the way.”

Dolls and Nicole hurried over and worked together to tilt the shelf back upright. They slid it to the side just enough to allow the door to be opened wide enough for Wynonna to slide out. Once the shelf was stable in its spot they stepped away. Dolls moved over to where he had been crouched near the window before and scooped up his gun. He checked his clip again before looking up at the other two “I have ten.”

Nicole shifted and pulled out her gun now. She did the same thing that Dolls had done and nodded with each bullet she counted. As she popped the clip back in she looked a little disheartened “I have twelve.”

“Great” Wynonna gave an affirmative nod as she thought it over. “Good, yeah, that will work. You two pick off the ones about to fire on me as quickly as you can. I’ll unload a few shots if I need to but my focus is going to be on Doc. As soon as you’re out of ammo just yell at me…” Her eyes flickered back and forth between Dolls and Nicole a few times before she gave a shrug “Just yell for me to take the shot or something, if I haven’t already. The window is going to close quickly and I don’t want to miss my chance.”

A feeling of uncertainty and doom settled heavily into the room as everyone nodded silently at the plan. Dolls and Nicole were trained for this. They had the resources and manpower to fight back when tensions inevitably boiled to a head. They could escape, retreat to safety, and regroup. This was not the end for them and yet it felt like it was as Wynonna stood there basically readying herself to march to her death.

“Alright, well, let’s stop standing around with our thumbs up our asses” Wynonna quipped before turning toward the door. She stared at the exit of her sanctuary and drew in a deep breath. This was it. It didn’t matter whether or not she left this room willingly, this story ended the same in her mind. She might as well go out on her own terms rather than sit there and wait for the zombies to overpower them. With that in mind she gave a nod then motioned to the door “Get this open.”

Nothing more was said. There was no more trying to convince Wynonna that there was another way for this to end. They had a patchwork plan and there was no going back now. So instead of wasting breath trying to change Wynonna’s mind, Dolls moved to the door handle and Nicole moved to stand behind the older Earp sister. She put her hand on her shoulder and gave a nod “Run like Hell, alright? As soon as we open this door, find Doc, and run right at him. Make sure you get as close as you can and make your shot count.”

Wynonna’s head nodded so quickly she almost looked like a bobblehead. She kept her eyes on the door because if she looked back and saw what she was sure was the sad look in Nicole’s eyes she wasn’t sure she would be able to go through that door. She had to stay focused. She swallowed the fear bubbling up in her throat, drew in as much air as she could fit into her lungs, and motioned to Dolls to indicate she wanted him to open the door.

There was no more hesitation. When Dolls got the go ahead he pulled the door open just enough to allow Wynonna space to slip out of the room. He then pivoted, turned toward the window, lifted his gun, and took aim.

As soon as Wynonna stepped out of the room there was a shout from somewhere in the factory “It’s the Earp girl!” She lifted her eyes to scan the room, not to find the source of the voice, but instead to locate Doc. Nicole was right. She needed to find the man and move as close to him as possible.

In a split second her eyes landed on the man and without even a beat of a pause, she took off in a dead sprint toward him, lifting Peacemaker and shooting at any zombie she could see in her peripheral. 

As soon as Wynonna took her first step, gunfire erupted from all directions in the factory. 

Nicole and Dolls fired carefully and precisely, picking off any zombie that was an immediate threat to Wynonna. They made sure that every bullet counted. It wouldn’t kill them but it would definitely slow them down just enough to give Wynonna a second or two of more time to get as close to Doc as possible.

A bullet pinged off the sheet of metal covering Wynonna’s chest. It hit her near her left shoulder but luckily the shot had been just an inch too low and no damage had been done. Without blinking she pointed Peacemaker in the direction that the bullet had come from and pulled the trigger.

A zombie went down, wailing in agony.

Wynonna jumped over a fallen zombie that had been hit with a well placed bullet by one of her support members behind her. With each pounding step of her boots against the concrete floor she felt her heart thudding harder and faster. Suddenly, it seemed, the fear was gone. Instead it had been replaced with a sense of peace. She was surrounded by silence. Her eyes were laser focused on Doc. This was it. These were the last seconds of her life and she wasn’t afraid. She knew this was her destiny.

Doc seemed to suddenly realize that Wynonna was charging right toward him. There was a split second during that realization where his eyes went wide and he looked terrified. Then, just as quickly, he blinked it away. His eyes darkened as his gaze met Wynonna’s charging, determined stare and a challenging smirk twitched up at the corners of his lips under his large moustache. 

“Wynonna!” Her name sounded distant, as if she were hearing it being yelled at her from the end of a tunnel. But it was enough. It was all she needed for her to know that it was her moment. She felt her feet stop. She planted herself on the spot, found her balance, lifted Peacemaker, and pulled the trigger.

That’s when she felt the impact. It wasn’t a bullet, though. It was the impact of a body running at full speed and plowing right into her. All the air went out of her lungs. Her eyes closed and all the sound that had faded out around her now rushed back to her. The first sound she recalled hearing was a prominent snap as her body came in contact with the hard concrete floor. Pain, like a white hot heat, washed over her entire body and she felt her awareness slip away from her.

“Haught!” Dolls rushed out of the room where they had been holed up. He was halfway to where Nicole was huddled on top of Wynonna when he realized that the room had gone silent. He blinked in confusion and stopped in his tracks to look around. He made a full circle, taking in his surroundings completely, before his eyes landed on Nicole and Wynonna. He took a few slow steps toward the other two and stopped just a few feet away. He put his hands on his hips and gave a disbelieving shake of his head “What the Hell happened?”

“Ooooouuucccchhhh” Wynonna groaned out as she rolled off her side where she had landed and onto her back. She pushed Nicole off of her and opened her eyes. She was staring at the large, open ceiling of the factory now. Her hand reached up and gripped very gingerly at her at left shoulder “Fuck, Haught, what the Hell were you thinking?”

Nicole rolled off of Wynonna with a loud gasp. She had both hands covering her ribs on the right side of her body. She closed her eyes and tried to draw in a deep breath only to be met with a sharp pain shooting through her lungs. She curled into a ball on the floor and pulled her left hand away. When she saw her fingers covered with bright, shining red blood she coughed out in pain. She felt wetness spill from her mouth when she coughed and she knew at that moment that she was gravely injured.

Dolls’ amazement at the fact that literally every zombie had suddenly dropped dead seemingly out of nowhere was replaced with concern when he saw Nicole cough up blood. He dropped to his knees beside her and moved her head to his lap. He looked down and could see the blood seeping through her fingers where she had them pressed to her ribcage. “Shit” He growled then looked over to Wynonna laying next to her “Can you sit up?”

“I think” Wynonna groaned as she moved her right hand to her side and attempted to push herself up to a sitting position. She let out a screech of agony and tears filled her eyes as she fought off the desire to pass out from the pain that had surged through her. She managed to sit up completely and lean herself against the half wall of one of the numerous cubicles around them. She drew in a few deep breaths through gritted teeth. That is when she noticed Nicole huddled on her side. That is also when she noticed the blood. “Holy shit, Nicole!”

“Here” Dolls gently moved Nicole’s head onto Wynonna’s lap. “Keep her awake. I am going to go radio for help.”

Wynonna barely heard what Dolls had said. Her eyes were staring down at Nicole in horror. There was a lot of blood soaked through Nicole’s clothes. It was already pooling on the floor. It was red, so red. She stared, not really sure what to say. The pain in her shoulder faded as she stared at Nicole Haught, super hybrid soldier, dying on her lap. This wasn’t right. Nicole couldn’t die. Why was she dying? What happened? She couldn’t register anything else at that moment. She was slipping into shock and the only thing she was able to understand was that Nicole was dying in her arms.

Her vision started to go fuzzy and she realized she was about to pass out. She wasn’t sure if it was because of the pain or the shock. All she understood was that she was losing consciousness. She gave a shake of her head to try and push the sensation away. Her right hand, the one that didn’t hurt to use, gently moved to push some of Nicole’s hair off her cheek. That is when she saw the tear drip from her own face and land on Nicole’s cheek. When had she started crying? She blinked and more tears fell onto Nicole’s face. She used her fingers to wipe the tears away. She opened her mouth and the words she forced out sounded like they were coming through a bubble “Stay alive, Nicole. You have to hold on for me, okay?”

“Help is on the way” Dolls rushed back and landed on his knees next to Nicole. He dug through his backpack frantically and produced some random piece of cloth. It was a shirt but Wynonna didn’t really register that detail. “Help me roll her over. I have to stop the bleeding.”

Dolls voice was just enough to keep her from passing out. She gave a weak nod and reached down to help roll Nicole to her back. That is when another rush of pain rolled through her body as she used her left arm to help. She howled out in pain and dropped her left arm into her lap. She looked over at her left shoulder and gave a shake of her head because she didn’t understand what was going on. She blinked and felt more tears falling away from her chin. She then looked up at Dolls with confusion and when she spoke it was more of a croak than anything “What happened?”

“I don’t know” Dolls gave a shake of his head as he worked to secure the shirt around Nicole’s ribs. He was sweating. His brows were furrowed in concentration as he tightened the shirt, which made Nicole goan out weakly. Once he was satisfied that the shirt would stop the bleeding for now, he looked back up at Wynonna, his head still shaking “But they’re all dead. Every single one.”

Wynonna’s head gave a slight twitch back and forth before it fell back to the wall behind her. She drew in a deep breath and she felt her body go warm. Her head was swimming. There were parts of her that felt tingly, like she was going numb. Her left arm felt heavy and she wondered for a moment if it was still there. She looked down to confirm that her arm was in fact still attached to her body and that is when she saw Nicole laying on her lap. Her right hand moved and she lightly touched the blood that streaked down Nicole’s chin from where she had coughed it up. She let out a heavy, painful breath and closed her eyes “It makes no sense. Nicole…” She coughed, which made her wince, and moved her head against the wall in an attempted shake “...you can’t die. Please don’t die.”

Before she could wrap her head around anything more, she felt her body go limp and she finally passed out. 

~.~.~.~.~.~


	13. "Fuck"

Wynonna’s eyes snapped open. She had just re-lived being bowled over in the factory again right as she took the shot at Doc. The pain of the landing surged through her at that moment and she let out a soft groan as her right hand reached up to grab at her shoulder. That is when she realized her left arm was immobilized. It also occurred to her that she was not laying on cold concrete but rather a soft surface. She had her head on a pillow. She blinked once and turned her head to see that she was in a bed. A hospital bed. Wait, how did she get to a hospital?

“Don’t try to move too much” Waverly’s soft voice cut into Wynonna’s consciousness now. She had been nodding off in the chair next to her sister’s bed when she heard the woman groan. She sat up and reached out to lightly touch Wynonna’s right hand “It’s okay, Wynonna. I’m here. You’re safe.”

Wynonna’s eyes fell to her little sister and she couldn’t fight the wave of emotion that washed over her. A few tears slipped from her eyes and she let out a trembling breath as her right hand reached up to her sister’s face “You’re alive.”

Waverly started crying the moment she saw her sister had started. She gave a quick, happy nod and grabbed hold of Wynonna’s hand. She pressed it to her own cheek and closed her eyes. “So are you.”

Wynonna nodded at that. Her eyes fluttered closed and the flashes of what had happened in the factory came back to her. She tried to move her left arm again but was met with resistance and pain. Her brows curled together in a frown as her eyes opened and settled on her sister again “What happened?”

Waverly’s eyes came open when her sister spoke. She offered a very weak smile as her hand wiped across her face to brush away her own tears. She moved to sit on the side of the hospital bed, still cradling Wynonna’s hand between both of her own. She squeezed her hands tightly but spoke gently “You did it, Wynonna. You ended it.”

Wynonna didn’t understand and it showed through the look on her face. “How?”

Waverly’s smile grew just a little bit “You cut off the head of the snake.”

Wynonna stared at her sister for a few long moments without showing any sign that she registered what had been said. She was starting to get a headache now. She closed her eyes in an attempt to push the pain away “What do you mean?”

“You killed Doc” Waverly reached out with one of her hands and brushed some hair off of Wynonna’s cheek. “I had a feeling that if you killed him the rest would fall, too.”

“No” Wynonna coughed the word out as her eyes blinked open. “I was hit. Someone hit me.”

“No” Waverly’s voice hitched in her throat and her eyes filled with immediate tears. She licked her lips, keeping her eyes focused on her sister, as she cleared her throat “Nicole saved your life.”

Wynonna once more looked like she did not understand. She stared at her sister blankly, as if waiting for an explanation.

“According to Dolls” Waverly started softly, fighting off the tears that hung on her eyelids “Just as you took the shot on Doc, he took a shot on you. Nicole saw it coming or something, he’s not sure. All he knows is she was on you in a flash. She pushed you out of the way of the bullet.”

A flash of all the blood on Nicole’s torso came back to Wynonna. She closed her eyes to try and force the image out of her mind. The pain of hitting the concrete floor moved through her and when her eyes opened she was looking at where she had landed on her shoulder. She cleared her throat and looked back to her sister “There was so much blood.”

Waverly nodded in agreement but didn’t speak. A few tears trickled from her eyes and she looked away from her sister for the first time. She wiped her tears away and drew in a long breath to steel her nerves before she looked back up. “Yeah, the bullet punctured her lung and settled in her heart.”

Another flash of all the blood came to Wynonna. She felt herself tearing up again. She tried to push away the image once more as her eyes focused on her sister. “I told her not to die.”

Waverly started to sob. She leaned forward and wrapped both of her arms around her sister’s shoulders the best she could and let herself be consumed by tears.

When Waverly hugged her, Wynonna felt a shot of pain radiate from her left shoulder all the way to the other side of her body and down into both sets of fingertips. She grunted but didn’t complain much more than that. Her right arm slid around her sister in the best hug she could offer and she held it there for as long as Waverly needed. She wouldn’t ask about Nicole any longer because it was obvious what had happened. Nicole had sacrificed herself to save Wynonna. 

After a few minutes, Waverly finally stopped crying. She pulled back from her sister’s embrace and wiped her eyes and nose dry with the sleeve of the sweater she was wearing. She gave Wynonna a sad look before clearing her throat to speak again “How are you feeling?”

A breath of a laugh came from Wynonna’s lips because the question seemed so out of place. She was lying in a hospital bed having barely escaped with her life and she still had no idea what exactly had happened. She opened her mouth to say just that then stopped as something came to her. Her senses were slowly returning and she just now realized she had no idea where she was “Where are we?”

“The Garden” Waverly said with a little nod.

Wynonna looked her sister over and realized that she was wearing different clothes. She lifted her right hand and pointed vaguely at her sister’s ensemble “Are those new clothes?”

“Not new, new” Waverly shrugged as she pulled the bottom of the sweater she wore out a bit so she could look down over it. “But, yeah, they took all our old stuff and washed what they could and repurposed anything that was worn out.”

Wynonna let out a soft hum, as if she were contemplating what her sister had just said. After deciding that seemed reasonable, she nodded and closed her eyes. 

A silence fell between the sisters now. Waverly took hold of her sister’s hand once more and Wynonna let her. They sat there, not speaking, but sharing a moment together. It was a moment they hadn’t been sure they would ever get again and as they both soaked it in it was obvious just how grateful the two of them were to still have one another.

The moment was broken up by a soft knock at the door. Wynonna opened her eyes and turned to look in that direction. She didn’t say anything, though. She just waited for the door to open.

Dolls poked his head inside and when he saw both sisters were looking at him, he smiled widely “Oh good, you’re awake. How are you feeling?”

“Foggy” Wynonna found a good word for her state of being at the moment and gave a nod as she spoke it. “Trying to put together what the Hell happened.”

“As far as we can tell-” Dolls moved further into the room now as his hand reached up to scratch at the back of his head “-when your bullet killed Doc it broke the Wyatt’s curse, and thus…” He threw a hand out to the side in a shrugging motion because there really wasn’t any sort of real explanation for what had happened “...they’re dead. All of them.”

“The entire factory?” Wynonna couldn’t wrap her head around it.

“Every single zombie throughout the entire world” Dolls stated plainly but with a smile on his lips. “X-Division and other organizations like it have been finding massive hordes of dead zombies all over the globe.”

“What?” To say Wynonna was stunned at the news was an understatement.

Dolls gave a single nod and was still smiling “You did it, Earp. You broke the curse and saved humanity.”

Wynonna nodded just once. She turned her face away from the man and focused on her toes under the blanket of the hospital bed. She thought about what she had just learned for a long time. It felt like a long time, at least, when in reality it was only a handful of seconds. The events of the factory replayed in her mind over and over again. She remembered taking the shot at Doc but never saw the bullet hit him. The only thing she remembers after the shot was pain and blood. 

She blinked out of her blank stare and looked over at Waverly now. Her furrowed brow lifted slightly as she set her eyes lovingly on her sister “I didn’t break the curse, you did.”

Waverly bit her lip and gave a quick shake of her head at the words. She gave Wynonna’s hand a gentle squeeze and offered her a smile “You took the shot. I just gave you the idea.”

“No” Wynonna vehemently denied the praise her sister was trying to give her. “No, it’s because of you that I went after him. If you hadn’t made me promise to take him out I would have tried to escape and come up with another plan.” She motioned with her head toward Dolls but kept her eyes on her sister “I would have retreated like they wanted to but I didn’t because I had your voice in my head telling me to take him out.” She smiled for the first time since waking up “You ended the curse, babygirl.”

“We did” Waverly conceded and lifted Wynonna’s hand to her lips to press a light kiss against her knuckles. She let out a happy sigh and used her other hand to push some of her sister’s hair back behind her ear. “And all the humans made it out alive. It’s amazing.”

“All except one” Wynonna’s heart twisted with immediate pain at the fact that Nicole had pushed her out of the way of Doc’s bullet. It was her fault. She closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath in an attempt to push down the guilt. She hadn’t even liked Nicole that much but now she wished she could at least tell her thank you.

“Technically, she’s still alive” Dolls motioned behind himself to nowhere in particular.

Wynonna’s eyes snapped open and she looked at him as if he had just spoken a different language. Her eyelids fluttered as if she were having a hard time focusing on him as she sputtered out “What?”

Waverly had immediately started crying again at the mention of Nicole.

Dolls smiled weakly and gave a single nod “She’s in a coma but she’s alive. They can’t figure out-”

“You made me think she was dead!” Wynonna whirled around to scowl at her sister. Then she noticed Waverly crying again and her anger faded into sorrow. She let out a heavy sigh and lifted her hand to touch at her sister’s cheek “Why are you crying?”

“She does that” Dolls cleared his throat and spoke softly. “She’s upset because they’ve tried everything for Nicole but nothing seems to be working.”

Waverly nodded at what Dolls said and cleared her throat to try and speak through her tears “I’m sorry I made you think she was dead.” She wiped at her face and drew in a sharp sniffle before wiping her nose on the sleeve of the sweater she wore. “She just-” She choked on a fresh wave of tears.

Wynonna let out a sympathetic sigh as she took hold of her sister’s hand. She looked over at Dolls now and nodded just once “I need to see her.”

“She can’t have visitors yet” Dolls shook his head firmly.

“I don’t really care about the rules, okay? I want to see her.”

“She just came out of surgery and-”

“I need to see her!” Wynonna yelled with such ferocity it caused her left shoulder and arm to throb in pain. She grunted it away, made a fist with her left hand in an attempt to force the pain out of her arm, and fixed her eyes firmly on the man. Behind her eyes was a sense of pleading urgency that she had only ever reserved for a situation concerning Waverly. “Please.”

“I’ll see what I can do” Dolls could see this wasn’t a debate. He understood. Nicole had saved her life and she wanted to thank her for that before she died. With that in mind, he left the room on a mission to fulfill Wynonna’s wish.

“How long has she been in a coma?” Wynonna’s tone was a little softer now as she turned her attention back to her sister.

“Three-” Waverly cleared away the thickness of her sobs and nodded as she tried again “-Three days.”

“That’s it?” Wynonna let out a sigh of relief. That was nothing. She had heard of people being in comas for weeks or more after traumatic events.

“She’s not healing, Wynonna” Waverly mumbled as she once more wiped her nose on her sweater. 

Wynonna’s eyes batted quickly in surprise at the news. Her brows furrowed together and she shook her head slightly “That’s not right. What about her…” She motioned vaguely to her head with her right hand “...condition?”

“They don’t know what happened” Waverly whispered through a frown. She drew in a deep breath to fight off a new wave of tears. “All they know is she’s not healing like she should.”

Wynonna closed her eyes. She lifted her hand to her face and pressed the pads of her thumb and forefingers into her closed lids. This was too much to handle. She thought their worries would be over once the zombies were gone. Actually, she thought she would be dead right now, honestly, so the fact that she wasn’t was a lot to process. Everything else was just, well, too much. 

After a few moments of contemplating all of it she opened her eyes again. She went to lift her left hand, attempting to brush hair from her eyes, but was stopped by the sling and velcro straps that were securing her arm to her torso. The motion caused pain to shoot through her shoulder again and she gritted her teeth sharply “Fuck.”

“Are you in pain?” Waverly frowned, eyeing her sister over carefully as if she would be able to see where she was hurting.

“Just my-” Wynonna motioned with her right hand to her left arm and gave a shake of her head. “What the Hell happened to me?”

“When Nicole pushed you out of the way she landed on top of you and broke your collarbone pretty badly” Waverly let out a sad sounding sigh. “You needed surgery to fix it but the doctor says you’ll make a full recovery.” She attempted a smile as her hand reached down to take Wynonna’s once more “Between the surgery and being malnourished and dehydrated they want to keep you here for observation for a couple more days but you should be totally fine.”

Wynonna looked at her left arm as a flash of Nicole jumping on her went through her mind again. A surgically repaired collarbone was a small price to pay considering the alternative. She sighed at the thought and looked back to her sister “Well now I’m pissed at her for injuring me.”

Waverly couldn’t help the soft laugh that escaped her lips. She was so relieved to see that Wynonna seemed to be fairly unscathed. She leaned in and touched a kiss to her sister’s forehead before settling back down on the side of the bed. Her relief faded and was replaced by a wave of sadness as she thought about what Nicole had done. She had saved them. Not only had she physically saved Wynonna’s life but she had gotten everyone out of Purgatory. It didn’t seem fair that she was now lying in a bed dying and no one seemed to be able to figure out how to save her.

“Hey” Wynonna saw the tears form in her sister’s eyes and she lifted her hand to her face. She brushed away a fresh tear before it could fall and nodded. “We’re Earps. We will figure something out.”

Waverly shook her head and closed her eyes. When she did so more tears spilled down her cheeks. She drew in a deep breath to try and calm herself as her cheek turned into Wynonna’s comforting touch a bit more. “I love her.”

“Yeah, I picked up on that” Wynonna smiled very softly. She hated that her sister was hurting but a small part of her was thrilled that Waverly had dared to open herself up to someone. It gave her hope that her sister could be happy someday. It was, afterall, what Waverly had dreamed about for years. She made a silent promise to her sister just then to do whatever it took to make sure she could be happy with Nicole.

~.~.~.~.~.~

“My legs are not broken” Wynonna swatted away Waverly’s attempt to help her into the wheelchair she had brought into the room. 

“It’s just safer, and probably faster, if you let me push you” Waverly gave a roll of her eyes but was already moving the chair to the side because she knew this was not a fight she was going to win.

Wynonna rolled her eyes in the same way as her sister as she sat up and scooted to the side of the bed. Her shoulder and collarbone were still pretty sore and moving definitely hurt but she was not going to let that stop her. 

It was the middle of the night and Dolls had managed to swap with someone else who was standing watch outside Nicole’s intensive care room. As soon as everyone else left the area he had come to get the Earp sisters so that Wynonna could see Nicole.

After a grunt, some swatting away of helping hands, and some cursing Wynonna was finally able to stand. That is when she realized she had bare feet and the floor was cold concrete. She also realized she was in a drafty hospital gown with nothing on underneath and the opening in the back was doing nothing to hide her ass. She let out a sigh and turned to look at her sister “I will accept the ride for no other reason than to save my dignity.”

Waverly let out a very soft laugh and nodded excitedly as she quickly moved the wheelchair up behind her sister. She waited until Wynonna was settled before she rushed out of the room, following Dolls toward Nicole’s room.

As they moved silently a weird mood settled over the sisters. Wynonna was a little nervous, for some reason. It didn’t make sense. She barely liked Nicole and yet she felt her heart beginning to race faster as they moved down corridors and barrelled around corners.

Waverly, on the other hand, was starting to tremble. She hadn’t been able to see Nicole since she was brought in. The helicopter that had come and taken them from the factory had landed in the dead of night. Waverly only knew that it was coming because Dolls had gotten a message to her through the people at The Garden. As soon as they landed, Waverly was there. She barely got a word in edgewise as the hospital crew on the helipad went to work securing both Nicole and Wynonna to gurneys and rushing them inside for surgery. After that, Waverly was only allowed to visit her sister because Nicole was being kept in a secret, secured wing of the hospital.

Dolls came to a sudden stop and put a finger to his lips to remind the sisters to be quiet. He slowly crept to the corner of the corridor they were currently in and cautiously looked around it. When it saw the coast was clear he motioned for them to move quickly as he rushed around the corner and into the first door on the right.

Waverly didn’t hesitate and soon they were shut inside a dark room. Dolls stood right next to the door, blocking it, as he looked at the others “Make it quick.”

Both Wynonna and Waverly gave a nod before turning their eyes to the single bed in the room. It actually looked more like a plastic incubator they had seen in a movie once where the hospital kept preterm babies. The sight of that, plus all the machines surrounding it and all the wires going into it, immediately made Waverly start to well with emotion again as she slowly pushed Wynonna over to it.

A steady beep was the only sound in the room as they moved toward the incubator. Wynonna felt her heart jump into her throat. She felt like she might be sick. Her shoulder gave a throb, as if it knew who this person was lying lifeless before them was. Wynonna drew in a deep breath and as she reached the side of the bed she pushed herself out of the chair and stood. She immediately flattened her hand against the see-through plastic and gave her head a shake “God damn it, Haught.”

Waverly was already crying. She moved up beside her sister and gently lifted her hand to touch the plastic as well. She closed her eyes and drew in a sharp breath as she tried, and failed, to swallow her tears. Her stomach hurt. Her heart was twisted around itself. She felt like her legs might crumble beneath her where she stood. She could not believe someone as amazing as Nicole, who had risked her life without a second’s thought, was now barely clinging to life. It didn’t seem fair.

They stood there silently for a few moments. Wynonna hadn’t taken her eyes off of the woman on the bed and Waverly had yet to open her eyes again. Between soft beeps from one machine and the slow, steady push of oxygen into Nicole from another, the only other sound were the quiet sobs from Waverly.

“You can touch her” A voice came out of nowhere.

Wynonna screamed in fright and whirled around in the direction of the voice which wrenched her torso and shoulders so violently she thought she might have broken her collarbone all over again. The white hot pain that shot through her caused her to yelp out “FUCK!”

“I’m sorry” Jeremy, the scientist who had helped Waverly build the bombs, stepped out of the shadows now. He looked completely horrified at what he had just done “I thought you saw me here. I didn’t mean to make you shit your pants.”

“Yeah, well, clear your goddamn throat or something first next time” Wynonna grumbled and lifted her hand to her heart. She drew in a few short breaths, trying to regulate her breathing again from the start.

“What are you doing here?” Waverly had laughed, after she had screamed in fright, and was now wiping her eyes as she focused on the man.

“Ah, yes, well” Jeremy cleared his throat, which made Wynonna give him an annoyed scowl, before she motioned to Nicole “Since I was secretly working on a cure of zombie-ism back when I was held captive they thought I might be able to figure out why she isn’t healing on account of her blood being half zombie.”

Waverly gave a nod and felt herself getting emotional again. She looked at Nicole and gently stroked the plastic as if she were stroking her cheek “Any luck?”

“She isn’t responding to anything” Jeremy sounded defeated at that. “All of her systems are working. She has brain function, reflexes, all of that stuff but she isn’t healing like she is supposed to. They gave me a copy of her previous records, you know, all the stuff about her blood and that-” He glanced at Nicole and frowned “-but I told them I needed fresh blood to test, you know? And that is when…” He looked back up at the others now and gave a dumbfounded looking shrug “...the zombie virus is gone from her blood.”

“What?” Both Wynonna and Waverly stared wide-eyed at the man.

Jeremy nodded just once. He then looked at the clipboard he was holding and shrugged cluelessly again “The virus is gone so we know it’s not killing her. She still has her modified blood but I can’t duplicate it. The research I was given is so-” He looked up and looked a little annoyed now “-incomplete. No one has the original Doctor’s notes.”

“Can’t you synthesize it?” Wynonna asked with a shrug.

“That would take years. Maybe decades. Without knowing which element the original doctor used it would be like searching for a strand of blonde hair in a haystack in the middle of a tornado.”

“Impossible” Waverly whimpered and looked back at Nicole.

“The oddest thing is” Jeremy looked back at his clipboard to read a few numbers. After a moment he nodded at himself “Her regenerative blood seems to have stopped as well. She lost a lot of blood and even in surgery with them infusing her with as much as they had her blood counts are still dangerously low. It’s as if…” He looked at Nicole with an almost hopeless look on his face “...it’s like her body has given up trying.”

“There has to be something you can do” Wynonna swallowed the lump that had risen in her throat in an attempt to quell the tears threatening to form in her eyes.

“We’ve tried everything” Jeremy shrugged sadly at his own words. “I think her body knows her mission is complete and it’s time to go.”

“Don’t say things like that” Wynonna growled, turning to slide her arm around Waverly who she already knew was sobbing again. She rubbed her sister’s back in slow, comforting strokes as she spoke gently “We will figure something out. She wouldn’t give up on us and you know damn well Earps don’t give up on anything.”

Waverly was too far lost in her sobs to reply. Her hand slid off the plastic container as she laid her forehead on the top of it, as if lying her head on Nicole’s chest.

“I’ll give you two a minute” Jeremy whispered as he stepped around the sisters. He paused, turning to Waverly. He reached out and touched her arm lightly to get her attention. When she looked up, he motioned to a hole in the side of the incubator with what looked like a plastic valve covering it. “If you want to hold her hand” He whispered softly then dropped his head and turned to leave.

Waverly didn’t hesitate. If she was going to lose Nicole without being able to say goodbye or kiss her one last time then she at least wanted to be able to feel her hand in her own. She blinked a few times to clear away enough tears to be able to see when she was doing before she pushed her hand through the thick plastic sheet that allowed one way access into the incubator. Her fingers trembled as she carefully, as if she were afraid to hurt Nicole, took hold of the larger hand tenderly.

The machines attached to Nicole immediately started to go crazy. Loud beeps and alarms went off from every electronic device that was attached to her. Her hand gripped tightly around Waverly’s fingers and her eyes shot open.

“What’d you do?” Jeremy hadn’t made it out of the room yet and rushed back to the bed in a panic.

“I don’t know! I just touched her” Waverly looked scared. Her eyes flickered between where her hand was being squeezed by Nicole to her face and back again. She shook her head then looked up at Jeremy “She’s awake!”

“She’s awake!” Jeremy repeated the sentiment sounding even more surprised than Waverly.

“Hell yeah she is!” Wynonna leaned over the plastic and looked right into Nicole’s eyes. She could see a sense of confusion in her gaze as her eyes flickered back and forth in an attempt to figure out where she was. Then, she started to gag on the tube that was in her throat. “Shit she’s choking!”

“Shit!” Jeremy repeated and rushed to the opposite side of the incubator. He was trying to undo the snap closures on the side of the incubator so he could help. “Shit, shit, shit.”

“What the Hell?” Dolls had rushed over as soon as he heard the alarms too. He looked panicked until he saw that Nicole was awake and choking. He quickly moved around to help Jeremy undo all of the places where the top was secured into the bottom of the incubator. Since he was much more cool under pressure, and his hand was much more steady, he was able to quickly pop enough of the snaps open to allow for them to flip the top open.

“Hurry up, man” Wynonna motioned frantically to Nicole who was now gripping at the tube that was down her throat. “She gonna fucking choke to death!”

“For the last time, I am not a doctor!” Jeremy wailed out in frustration then looked at Nicole as if deciding whether or not he should try to take it out. What’s the worst that could happen? She already had a punctured lung and a hole in her heart, right? They could fix anything that he might injure by pulling it out wrong.

“Move” Before Jeremy could weigh the pros and cons, Dolls shoved him out of the way. He leaned over Nicole, looked her in the eyes, and spoke firmly “Hold your breath this is probably gonna hurt.” He waited for confirmation from Nicole then grabbed onto the tube. He eyed it carefully, surveying it for a few moments, before he slowly started to pull the tube out, letting the curve of it lead the way.

Nicole gasped in a huge breath as soon as the tube was gone. The breath filled her lungs to capacity, which hurt because of the bullet wound she had in one of them. She coughed through her exhale before reaching for her throat. She rubbed it a few times before giving Dolls a nod “Thanks.” When she spoke, her voice was ragged and hoarse from the tube.

Waverly threw her arms around Nicole the best she could, laying her head on her shoulder, as she began to sob again. “You’re-” She wailed out, then drew in a breath “-alive!”

“Ouch” Nicole hissed at the impact of Waverly lunging at her but she did not pull away. Instead she slid her left hand over the woman’s back and nodded “I’m alive.”

“You asshole” Wynonna was crying too but trying really, really hard to hide it. She bit her bottom lip and sniffled once as she scowled at the woman in the bed. “You broke my collarbone.”

Nicole smiled at Wynonna in a way she had never smiled at her before. Her smile held a sense of gratitude, pride, and a splash of amusement “Your dumbass almost got yourself shot. I had no other option.”

Waverly lifted her head now and looked at Nicole through tear-filled eyes “Thank you for saving her.”

Nicole lifted her left hand and gently pushed some of Waverly’s hair back behind her ear as their eyes met and she fixed the woman with an adoring gaze. “I promised you I would” She whispered softly which felt better on her sore throat.

Waverly let out a sound that was a mix of a sob and laugh as her hand lifted to cup at Nicole’s cheek. She leaned in and pressed a kiss so fiercely against her lips that there would undoubtedly be bruising left behind.

“Oh, okay, we’re already doing this” Wynonna rolled her eyes and used the moment to wipe away her tears when no one was looking.

“Everybody, hands up!” A guard suddenly burst through the door with his gun raised.

Jeremy’s hands flew up so fast he accidentally launched the clipboard.

Wynonna lifted her right hand and used it to point at her sister and Nicole “They did it. I was an innocent bystander.”

“Stand down” Dolls stepped around the bed, his hand held up to indicate he wanted the man to stop his approach. “I authorized this.”

The man looked suspicious for a second before he slowly lowered his gun. That is when he noticed that Nicole was awake. He looked surprised at that “Have you notified the Doctors?”

“I was on my way” Dolls gave a nod and moved toward the man. He gave him a pat on the back then gripped him behind his neck and used that grip to turn the guard around “How about you escort me and give our guests a few minutes?”

As the two men left the room, Wynonna looked back to her sister and Nicole. They were smiling and looking into each other’s eyes and it was just plain gross. She rolled her eyes at that “Now I wish you would have died.”

“Don’t say things like that” Waverly growled and fixed her sister with an angry scowl.

Wynonna rolled her eyes again and gave her sister an apologetic half smile “You know I’m kidding.” She turned her attention to Nicole and gave her a single, serious nod “Thank you, Nicole.”

“Thank you” Nicole reached her right hand up, which was filled with needles and tubes of I.V. fluid, and offered it out for a handshake “You did it. You ended it all.”

“How do you know that?” Wynonna looked surprised at the words as she took Nicole’s hand and gave it a distracted shake as a show of acceptance for whatever gesture the woman had just made. Gratitude or friendship or something. Honestly she was too distracted by the fact that Nicole knew it was over.

“I had this very lucid….” Nicole trailed off as she searched for the right word. She shook her head slowly and when she was unable to describe it properly she gave in with a sigh “...vision? I’m not sure. It was weird. I felt the zombie virus die inside of me. You know how I can sense them?” She waited for nods before she continued “Well I felt that sort of energy vanish. I just knew it was over.”

“Not to interrupt” Jeremy cleared his throat as he interrupted “But what made you suddenly wake up because we have been testing and retesting you and couldn’t figure out why you weren’t healing.”

Nicole looked from Jeremy to Waverly. As a smile spread over her face she spoke tenderly but without hesitation “That one’s easy. You saved me.”

“Me?” Waverly felt her heart flutter so quickly in her chest she had to gasp in a breath to keep herself from passing out. “How?”

“It was like I was hibernating or something” Nicole didn’t even blink as she spoke. “I was in a state of just being. It was almost like I was floating in water, waiting.” She reached down and took hold of Waverly’s hand. She squeezed it gently and lifted it to her lips. She touched a kiss against her knuckles and nodded “Then you reached in and pulled me out.”

Waverly blinked just once and the tears that had formed as Nicole spoke now spilled out onto her cheeks. “I was so afraid I’d lost you.”

Nicole shook her head as her hand lifted now to swipe away the tears on Waverly’s cheeks. “I haven’t been lost since the moment I met you.”

The words only made more tears come as Waverly nodded “I love you, Nicole.”

Wynonna gagged.

Nicole barely noticed. Her head nodded and as her fingers worked to wipe away the continuous stream of tears fro Waverly’s eyes she kept her eyes locked on her “I didn’t think I could love until that day.”

“Okay this is absolutely nauseating” Wynonna huffed and went back to her wheelchair, not even caring that her ass was exposed to everyone else in the room. She whirled around and dropped into the chair heavily before snapping her fingers a few times in beckoning “Hey Jeeves? I’d like to go back to my room now. Also…” She looked at Jeremy who was now awkwardly looking at machines and avoiding the tender moment happening on the bed “...can you pass along the word that I’d like a full lobotomy so I never have to relive this moment again?”

Waverly laughed very softly at that and turned to look over her shoulder to where her sister now sat pouting in her wheelchair. She wiped at her face then looked back to Nicole “I should get her back. But I’ll come visit, okay?”

“Bring her, too” Nicole gave Waverly a wink before leaning up to touch a soft kiss against her lips.

Waverly nodded as she pulled away from the kiss, away from Nicole’s embrace, and slid off the bed. She let her eyes linger on the woman for a few moments before finally turning and heading toward her grumpy sister. She immediately rolled her eyes in amusement at the look of annoyance on Wynonna’s face as she settled behind her, taking hold of the handles of the wheelchair and starting to push “Here I thought you’d be thrilled she isn’t dead.”

“Eh” Wynonna shrugged casually, then hissed because she forgot her left shoulder was attached to her left collarbone which had been shattered thanks to the big mushy love bird whose room they were now leaving.

Waverly rolled her eyes as she turned the corner and headed back toward Wynonna’s room “I know you’re happy.”

Wynonna huffed but didn’t say anything. She didn’t need to say anything, okay? She knew she was glad that Nicole was alive. Waverly knew it, too. Most importantly, Nicole knew it. What more was there to talk about? Just because she had some lame brush with death didn’t mean she was suddenly going to start discussing her emotions and shit. She did, however, reach across and behind herself with her right hand and lay it gently over Waverly’s left where it held onto the chair. She gave a few light pats then brought it to rest there for the remainder of the ride back to her room.

Nothing more was said once they arrived back at Wynonna's room. Waverly helped her sister out of the chair and back into her bed. Once she was settled, Waverly gave Wynonna a gentle kiss on her forehead, told her to get some rest, then left the room. She was exhausted herself and now that she knew both her sister and Nicole were alive she would finally be able to sleep for the first time in four days.

~.~.~.~.~.~

“Finally” Nicole’s voice was heard before she was seen.

Wynonna blinked a few times because the light in the room was a little too bright. Was that the sun? Was it really morning already? She yawned then turned her head in the direction that she had heard the voice from. When she saw Nicole sitting in the chair next to her bed, smirking, she rolled her eyes “Have you been watching me sleep all night you creep?”

“Been waiting for your lazy ass to wake up for an hour now” Nicole chuckled lightly. “How are you feeling?”

“Eh” Wynonna closed her eyes and shrugged just her right shoulder. She had quickly gotten used to using only her right shoulder during her noncommittal shrugs. It had been three days since herself and Nicole had woken up and she had learned to adjust to being unable to use her left arm.

“Well I wanted to stop by before breakfast” Nicole spoke a little more seriously now. She reached out and gently took hold of Wynonna’s right hand. When she did so she got the attention of the woman which made her smile slightly. She drew in a deep breath and her smile faded as she exhaled “I just wanted to-”

“Oh gross. Blah” Wynonna cut off what was sure to be a long winded, heartfelt speech with a roll of her eyes and a mock gagging motion. When her eyes were done rolling around their sockets in annoyance they settled on Nicole. She shook her head adamantly “We’ve done the thank you circle already. I’m totally over it.”

Nicole let out a huffed laugh and sat back, letting Wynonna’s hand slide out of her grip. She offered the woman a crooked smile “You know everyone is calling you a hero, right?”

Wynonna snorted at the idea. Sure, she had somehow saved humanity but she would go to her grave knowing for damn sure that Waverly was the real hero. “All I did was aim and shoot.”

“Either way” Nicole shrugged slightly at the way Wynonna was trying to dismiss the praise and gave a nod “You did it. You changed your legacy. You did right for the good of humanity.”

Wynonna recalled the conversation between herself and Nicole in the bell tower about doing just that. She didn’t care that she had pulled the trigger and killed Doc. Nothing inside her would ever make her feel like she was any better a person than anyone else in the world. “I’m still not a great person.”

“A good person can always admit their faults” Nicole countered. She stood now because, well, she knew that was about as mushy as Wynonna got. Instead she decided to change the subject. She cleared her throat and reached behind herself “Anyway, I wanted to give you something.”

Wynonna quirked a curious eyebrow as she watched the woman reach for whatever she had been hiding.

Nicole pulled the gun from where it had been tucked safely in her waistband. She smiled almost shyly now, as if she were unsure how Wynonna would feel about the gesture, as she brought Peacemaker into view “I know how important it is to you.”

Wynonna’s eyes fluttered in disbelief as she focused on the gun. She was stunned, to say the very least. As far as she knew the gun was unable to leave the Ghost River Triangle. She was so surprised to see Peacemaker that it took her a few moments to realize Nicole was extending it toward her. She quickly attempted to shake off her shock as she reached her right hand out to take the gun “How?”

Nicole shrugged because she couldn’t give her an answer. All she knew was Dolls had given the gun to Waverly the first day after their return from the factory. Waverly had been surprised to see it, too. During one of her visits to Nicole’s hospital room she had informed her that all previous attempts to leave with Peacemaker had been thwarted at the county line. “Waverly told me how you thought you’d have to leave it behind when you guys left. I thought you’d want to know it made it out unscathed.”

Try as she might to fight off her tears, Wynonna was overcome by the emotion of seeing her oldest and truest friend. She clutched the gun to her chest and closed her eyes as a grateful sigh slipped from her lips. “Thank you.”

Not sure if Wynonna was speaking to her or the gun, Nicole just motioned toward the door of the room. “I will give you a moment.”

Wynonna nodded in agreement to that as her eyes opened and she watched Nicole awkwardly moving away from the bed.

As she moved toward the door she kept her eyes on Wynonna “I’ll see you later, alright?”

“Hey, wait” Wynonna sat up a bit, which hurt, so she grimaced. When she had Nicole’s attention, her brow curled into a skeptical look as she narrowed her eyes on the woman “I thought you were bed ridden?”

Nicole let out a very soft laugh and lifted the shirt she wore to expose a bullet hole and surgical incisions. They looked nearly healed already. She then dropped her shirt and gave a playful shrug “I win this round.”

“Damn it” Wynonna groaned and dropped back onto her bed which, again, hurt. She had wanted to be released from the hospital before Nicole, just to prove that she could survive a near death experience better than the woman. But, no, stupid Waverly had to go and resurrect her or whatever and give her back her healing powers. All things considered she guessed there were worse things to be disappointed about. Now, at least, she had time to lie in her bed and think of all the many, many ways she was going to annoy Nicole and make her regret saving her life. Ah, yes, life outside of Purgatory, once a distant fantasy, was now a not so awful reality. She would say she was excited about the possibilities but that was more of a Waverly thing.

~.~.~.~.~.~


End file.
